Invoking Churchill, Boris Johnson says the war is ‘Ukraine’s finest hour.’

LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson informed Ukrainian lawmakers on Tuesday that their heroic protection in opposition to Russia’s invasion would rank as “Ukraine’s best hour,” invoking Winston Churchill’s well-known declaration about Britons as they confronted the Nazi onslaught initially of World Struggle II.

Within the first tackle by a international chief to Ukraine’s Parliament, Mr. Johnson burnished his credentials as a stalwart supporter of Ukraine and an in depth ally of its president, Volodymyr Zelensky. In tone and themes, Mr. Johnson’s speech mirrored one which Mr. Zelensky gave to the British Parliament in March.

“You’ve exploded the parable of Putin’s invincibility and you’ve got written probably the most superb chapters in army historical past and within the lifetime of your nation,” Mr. Johnson mentioned, referring to the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin. “The so-called irresistible power of Putin’s warfare machine has damaged on the immovable object of Ukrainian patriotism and love of nation.”

“That is Ukraine’s best hour, that will likely be remembered and recounted for generations to come back,” he mentioned in a video tackle recorded from Downing Avenue that was broadcast within the Parliament’s chamber.

Mr. Johnson insisted that no peace settlement with Russia ought to be foisted on the Ukrainians by outsiders. The braveness of Ukraine’s residents, he mentioned, had earned the nation the suitable to regulate its future. Furthermore, he added, the West had been gradual to understand the menace posed by Mr. Putin when Russia seized Crimea in 2014.

“We collectively did not impose the sanctions then that we must always have placed on Vladimir Putin,” he mentioned. “We can’t make the identical mistake once more.”

Mr. Johnson introduced that Britain would offer further weapons to Ukraine, together with digital warfare gear, a counter-battery radar system, and G.P.S.-jamming tools. The package deal, valued at 300 million kilos ($375 million), comes on the heels of a large $33 billion dedication of arms and humanitarian support that President Biden has requested Congress to approve.

Britain just lately introduced plans to supply extra subtle missiles and air-defense automobiles to the Ukrainian army, in addition to armored automobiles to evacuate civilians from areas beneath assault. Mr. Johnson mentioned Britain had additionally returned its ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons, to her publish in Kyiv.

For Mr. Johnson, the invitation to talk to the Parliament, often called the Verkhovna Rada, was a major gesture by Mr. Zelensky to a frontrunner with whom he has cast a sturdy relationship over the course of dozens of telephone calls. Final month, Mr. Johnson traveled to Ukraine and walked the streets of Kyiv with Mr. Zelensky, profitable plaudits from Ukrainians, in addition to folks again house.

Mr. Johnson’s Conservative Occasion faces troublesome native elections on Thursday, and he has but to flee the shadow of a scandal over his attendance at social gatherings that violated Covid restrictions. However his agency stand on Ukraine has deflected a few of the glare from his proliferating home woes.