Then U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Eurovision 2023 Theory Shared In Kyiv Was Imprudent Then And Untrue Now. “Fine” In Ukraine Did Not Materialize
Boris Johnson’s Eurovision 2023 Theory Was Imprudent Then And Untrue Now
“Fine” In Ukraine Did Not Materialize
On 17 June 2022, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) from July 2019 to September 2022, visited the city of Kyiv, capital of Ukraine.
While in Kyiv and discussing the location for the May 2023 Eurovision Song Contest organized annually by Grand-Sacconnex, Switzerland-based European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Prime Minister Johnson shared “I believe that Kyiv or any other safe Ukrainian city would be a fantastic place to have it. It is a year away. It is going to be fine by the time the Eurovision Song Contest comes round, and I hope the Ukrainians get it.”
Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary-General of the thirty-one-country member Brussels, Belgium-based North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said at the time the war in Ukraine “could take years.”
A group from Ukraine won the competition in May 2022 and the winner’s home country generally hosts the following year’s competition. However, the EBU shared “with deep regret” due to a twelve-month planning requirement and security concerns in Ukraine the competition would not be held in Ukraine- and the United Kingdom would be the host in May 2023.
During the visit to Kyiv, Prime Minister Johnson also shared: “The Russians are grinding forward inch by inch, and it is vital for us to show what we know to be true, which is that Ukraine can win and will win… When Ukraine fatigue is setting in, it is very important to show that we are with them for the long haul and we are giving them the strategic resilience that they need…. we need to steel ourselves for a long war… It would be a catastrophe if Putin won. He’d love nothing more than to say, ‘Let’s freeze this conflict, let’s have a cease-fire.’”