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07th Jun 2022

President Zelensky ‘very happy’ with Boris Johnson confidence vote win

Charlie Herbert

Zelensky says he's glad Johnson won

President Zelensky said Johnson’s win was ‘great news’

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said he is “very happy” Boris Johnson survived a confidence vote and is still the UK prime minister.

On Monday, Johnson saw off a major revolt from his own party and survived the attempt to oust him as the Tory leader.

Some 148 Tory MPs voted to remove him from his position as PM, which fell short of the 180 votes against him needed for him to lose the vote.

Speaking at a virtual conference hosted by the Financial Times on Tuesday, president Zelensky labelled the PM a “true friend of Ukraine.”

He said: “I’m glad we haven’t lost an important ally, this is great news.”

Just minutes after the result of the no-confidence vote was announced, one of Zelensky’s advisors Mikhail Podolyak tweeted supportively about Johnson.

In a tweet, Podolyak wrote: “Leadership is always a heavy burden. @BorisJohnson was one of the first who realized the menace of & stood by @ZelenskyyUa to protect the free world from barbaric invasion.

“The world needs such leaders. The UK is a Great friend of crown is a shield of democratic world.”

Cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi said he thought the Ukrainian president would be “punching the air” with delight in reaction to the Prime Minister surviving the leadership challenge.

These comments were criticised by some MPs, including Labour’s Karl Turner who said Zahawi should apologise for bringing Zelensky into the “Tory party civil war.”

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