Former prime minister Boris Johnson has said the UK should send non-combat troops to Ukraine now in a bid to “flip a switch” in Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s head.
Mr Johnson said the country should put boots on the ground in non-fighting zones, adding Ukraine’s allies have been “too slow” to send support to Kyiv.
Speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg alongside the former head of the military, Adm Sir Tony Radakin, the former PM said: “We’ve always delayed needlessly,.
“We’ve then ended up giving the Ukrainians what they have been asking for, and actually it’s always served to their advantage and to the disadvantage of Putin.
“I mean, the one person who suffers from escalation is Putin.”
It comes after Hungary has said it is prepared to block a key European Union (EU) loan to Ukraine unless Kyiv allows shipments of Russian oil to resume.
The EU nation has been blocked from receiving Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline since 27 January, after Ukrainian officials said a Russian drone attack caused damage to the infrastructure.
But in a video posted on social media on Friday evening, foreign minister Peter Szijjarto accused Ukraine of “blackmailing” Hungary by failing to restart oil shipments.
