UK's Johnson to hail Ukraine’s ‘finest hour’ in Kyiv parliament

Prime minister will echo the words of Winston Churchill as he praises Ukrainian spirit

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson will outline a new financial package for Ukraine in a video address to the parliament in Kyiv. AFP.

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Boris Johnson will hail the resistance of Ukrainians in the face of the brutal Russian invasion as their “finest hour” when he delivers an address to the country’s parliament.

Speaking by video link, the prime minister will use a speech to the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday to set out details of a new £300 million ($375 million) package of military support for the government in Kyiv.

Downing Street said it will include electronic warfare equipment, a counter battery radar system, GPS jamming equipment and thousands of night vision devices, as Russia’s offensive in the Donbas region continues.

It follows Mr Johnson’s unannounced visit to the Ukrainian capital last month, in a show of support and solidarity with president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In his address, the prime minister will echo the words of Winston Churchill to the British people during the Second World War, as Mr Zelenskyy did when he spoke to the Westminster Parliament in March.

A woman rescues some of her belongings from her house in Irpin, near Kyiv, which was nearly completely destroyed by Russian bombing in late March. AP

A driver helps a woman board a bus at a reception centre for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. AP

People fleeing Mariupol's Azovstal plant arrive on buses at a registration and processing area for internally displaced people in Zaporizhzhia. AFP

A woman stands next to her home in Irpin, near Kyiv, after it was nearly completely destroyed by Russian bombing. AP

People hold banners and shout slogans during a demonstration in support of Mariupol defenders in Kyiv, Ukraine. Getty Images

A woman stands near her house that was destroyed by shelling in Sloboda, Chernihiv region, Ukraine. Reuters

A mother and child in Lviv, Ukraine, wait to board transport destined for Przemysl, Poland. Getty Images

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy claps as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson addresses the Ukrainian Parliament in Kyiv via videolink. Reuters

Firefighters work to extinguish flames after a Russian bombardment at a park in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP Photo

The television tower is illuminated in the national colors of the Ukrainian flag to show solidarity with the country at the Olympic Park in Munich, southern Germany. AFP

Flooded gardens and fields are shown in Demydiv, Ukraine. To keep Russian armoured columns at bay, Ukrainian forces released water from a nearby hydroelectric dam to intentionally flood Demydiv, a village north of Kyiv. The decision was effective, but efforts to drain the area are complicated. Getty Images

A damaged Orthodox icon is seen in the corner of local resident Yurii's heavily damaged house in Fenevychi, Ukraine. Getty Images

Valentyna, 71, stands by her cat, who was injured in the fighting, in Fenevychi. Getty Images

Yurii, 53, stands in his heavily damaged house in Fenevychi. Getty Images

Evacuees from the eastern Ukraine city of Lyman, which has suffered heavy shelling, ride on a bus in Raihorodok. AFP

A man delivers loaves of bread to a woman in the eastern Ukraine city of Lyman. AFP

Nazar, right, boards a bulletproof bus to evacuate with his family from the eastern Ukraine city of Lyman. AFP

A dog chases a hare by the wall of a burnt house in Fenevychi. Getty Images

Nine-year-old Galina, right, and Nazar, 8, arrive with their families in Raihorodok. AFP

Natalia Pototska, 43, cries as her grandson Matviy looks on in Zaporizhzhia. AP

Hryhorii, a member of the Ukrainian military meets his wife Oksana, who fled from the Russian-occupied Novomykhailivka village, at the evacuation point in Zaporizhzhia. EPA

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomes Denmark's Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeppe Kofod to Kyiv. Reuters

Buildings destroyed by Russian shelling in Borodianka, in Ukraine's Kyiv region. Reuters

Volunteers carry an elderly woman in a blanket during the evacuation of a frontline village retaken by Ukrainian forces in Kharkiv. Reuters

A Ukrainian man walks past the turret of a Russian tank next to a destroyed petrol station in the village of Skybyn, north-east of Kyiv. AFP

Andrii Fedorov hugs his son Makar as they are reunited in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, after the boy and his mother fled besieged Mariupol. AP

Volunteers at the Help Ukraine Center in Lublin, south-eastern Poland. More than 3 million Ukrainian refugees are now in Poland. EPA

Police officers deliver loaves of bread to residents in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lyman, which is being heavily shelled. AFP

Savelii, 10, mourns at the grave of his father, who died protecting his city as a member of the Territorial Defence, in Irpin, Ukraine. EPA

Ukrainian soliders ride on a truck to a resting place after fighting in the front line for two months near Kramatorsk. AFP

A shopkeeper clears shelves before closing up in Sviatohirsk, eastern Ukraine, amid the Russian invasion. AFP

Civilians who left the area near Azovstal steel plant as part of an evacuation of Mariupol arrive at temporary accommodation in Bezimenne, Donetsk region. Reuters

Azovstal steel plant employee Valeria, who was part of an evacuation of Mariupol, hugs her son Matvey, who had earlier left the city with his relatives, as they meet again in Bezimenne, Donetsk. Reuters

A pro-Russian troop stands guard in Bezimenne, Donetsk. Reuters

A picture taken during a visit to Mariupol organised by the Russian military shows Russian serviceman on patrol outside the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in Enerhodar, south-eastern Ukraine. EPA

A woman is assisted during the UN-led evacuation of the Azovstal steel plant, after nearly two months of siege warfare on Mariupol by Russia. Reuters

Civilians gather for humanitarian aid, distributed by the Donetsk People Republic Emergency Situations Ministry in Berdyansk, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine. AP

Ukrainian servicemen are seen near a T-80 tank captured from Russian troops in Kharkiv region. Reuters

A Ukrainian soldier takes a break from the conflict and tries to pet a stork in Barvinkove, Kharkiv region. Reuters

A satellite image shows damage at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, Ukraine. AP

“When my country faced the threat of invasion during the Second World War, our Parliament, like yours, continued to meet throughout the conflict, and the British people showed such unity and resolve that we remember our time of greatest peril as our finest hour,” Mr Johnson is expected to say.

“This is Ukraine’s finest hour, an epic chapter in your national story that will be remembered and recounted for generations to come.

“Your children and grandchildren will say that Ukrainians taught the world that the brute force of an aggressor counts for nothing against the moral force of a people determined to be free.”

The latest military support package comes after British ministers updated Parliament last week on plans to send sophisticated long-range Brimstone missiles and Stormer air defence vehicles.

In addition, the UK is to supply heavy lift aerial drones to provide logistical support to Ukrainian forces that have become isolated.

Downing Street said the UK was also sending more than a dozen new specialised Toyota Land Cruisers to protect civilian officials in eastern Ukraine and to evacuate civilians from frontline areas, in line with a request from the Ukrainian government.