Boris Johnson criticises "sick-making" welcome for Putin in Alaska

Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson has condemned what he called the "sick-making" spectacle of US President Donald Trump welcoming Russian ruler Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

The US president literally rolled out the red carpet for Putin ahead of their August meeting in Alaska. 

The talks were meant to pave the way to ending the war in Ukraine, but concluded without any agreements, and Russian bombardments of Ukraine have continued since.

Johnson praised the "absolutely heroic" Ukrainians for resisting Russia’s attempts to seize Ukraine since the full-scale invasion in 2022.

He said in an interview with GB News that he welcomes Trump’s attempts to end the war, but added: "Ukraine is a completely innocent wronged party. We all know that it was sick-making to watch Putin being welcomed to America like that."

"But Trump, to be fair to him, has actually continued to let the weapons go to Ukraine, which is the most important thing," Johnson added.

The former prime minister also insisted that Russia’s economy is in crisis and argued the war could end by the end of the year.

"I think that Putin is in a much, much weaker position than people say. Russia is getting really mauled on its hydrocarbon production by Ukraine. I think the problems they've got in the refineries are very serious.

You're seeing a 10% reduction in Russia's output of gasoline, you're seeing shortages of fuel, inflation is going up, as I say. Couple that with failure on the battlefield, Putin's position, and what I would say to President Trump, and sometimes I do communicate this, is Putin's position is much, much weaker than people think, I think probably weaker than Putin's advisors are telling him," he added.

Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur believes the US administration is now less optimistic about Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that Trump cannot ignore it if Putin continues to avoid meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy despite having agreed to it at the Alaska summit.