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BORIS Johnson has been thanked by Ukrainians and been gifted a ceramic CHICKEN as he visited the war-torn country.
The British Prime Minister today openly walked through Kyiv with Ukrainian President Vologymyr Zelensky surrounded by tens of armed soldiers.
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The pair strolled through the eerily empty streets before bumping into surprised citizens who thanked Boris for Britain’s help.
A woman then approached the two leaders and gifted them two jugs in the shape of cockerels.
The PM thanked the woman and explained: “I’m from London”. To which she replied: “I know, I’m from Kharkiv”.
It comes as Britain will send anti-ship missiles to blitz Putin’s Black Sea fleet blockading Ukraine.
Sources said Britain would send sea-skimming Harpoon missiles which can blitz warships over the horizon at a range of more than 80 miles.
And 120 armoured vehicles including tracked armoured personnel carriers known as Spartans will also be donated.
The vehicles first entered service in 1978 and were due to be retired.
Other vehicles Mastiff, Husky and Wolfhound armoured personnel carriers which were designed to protect troops from Improvised Explosive Devices in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Prime Minister called Zelensky a lion and said Ukraine had defied the odds in fighting Russia and insisted the UK stands unwaveringly with them.
Yesterday he pledged £100million worth of further UK military assistance, including anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry and so-called “suicide drones”, which loiter over the battlefield before attacking their target.
And today he met President Zelensky in Kyiv in an unannounced visit for fresh talks on ending Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin’s war.
Boris Johnson vowed to give Ukraine the weapons, technology and intelligence to ensure that “Putin must fail”.
He hailed the courage of ordinary Ukrainians, condemned Putin’s regime for his “war crimes” and promised to ratchet up sanctions week-by-week until Russia was defeated.
Speaking in Kyiv he said: “The world has found new heroes, and those heroes are the people of Ukraine.”The Ukrainians have shown the courage of a lion.”
And he praised President Zelensky for providing the lion’s roar.
He said Britain and allies would give Ukraine “the equipment, the technology the know how, the intelligence so that Ukraine will never be invaded again”.
“So Ukraine is so fortified and so protected that Ukraine can never be bullied again, never be blackmailed again,” he added.
“Never be threatened in the same way again.”
He warned there was “a huge amount to do to do to make sure that Ukraine is successful, that Ukraine wins and that Putin must fail”.
He added: “What Putin has done in places like Bucha and Irpin, his war crimes have permanently polluted his reputation and the reputation of his of his government,” he said.
“We will continue to intensify week by week, the sanctions on on Russia not just freezing assets in banks and sanctioning oligarchs moving away from our use of Russian hydrocarbons.
“And we will give you the support that you need economic support but also, of course, the defensive military support.”
Johnson and Zelensky were pictured alone in a room today with a British and Ukrainian flag beside them.
Deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office Andriy Sybiha said: “The UK is the leader in defence support for Ukraine. The leader in the anti-war coalition. The leader in sanctions against the Russian aggressor.”
A No 10 spokesperson said the PM had travelled to Ukraine to meet Zelensky in person “in a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people”.
The surprise meeting comes as Russia unleashed a new wave of terror on Friday when it bombed the Kramatorsky railway station in eastern Ukraine.
At least 50 people were killed and more than 100 injured in the barbaric attack, that involved a missile that has “for the children” scribbled on its side.
President Zelensky slammed the attack in a social media post yesterday, saying: “This is an evil that has no limits.”
“The occupiers hit the Kramatorsk railway station with a Point-U [missile], where thousands of peaceful Ukrainians were waiting to be evacuated,” the Ukrainian leader wrote on Instagram before the death toll was updated.
“About 30 people died, about 100 people were injured to varying degrees. Police and rescuers are already on the scene. Russian non-humans do not abandon their methods.
“Lacking the strength and courage to stand up to us on the battlefield, they are cynically destroying the civilian population.
“This is an evil that has no limits. And if it is not punished, it will never stop.”
EU President Ursula von der Leyen visited Bucha – the site of the latest alleged Russian atrocities – on Friday.
Von der Leyen said she had witnessed the “unthinkable” in the devastated town, which was occupied by Russian troops days earlier.
She also presented Zelensky with an official membership questionnaire in at a historical joint press conference in Kyiv.
It comes as Britain agrees to send send 120 armoured cars – including Mastiffs – to Ukraine and more fighter jets to the Russian border in the fightback against Putin.
UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Britain would step up arming the war-torn nation and vowed to do whatever he could to help back those fighting Putin’s troops.
The vehicles were previously used in Afghanistan to withstand Taliban explosives – and can be shipped over via Europe.
They can carry up to eight troops plus another two crew – and can be armed with other weapons too.
The Sun understands that ministers want to send up to 200 of them over time.
Britain will also send another two typhoon jets out to Romania next week to help support the NATO forces out there – joining four already in the region.
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