Facts

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson compared the plight of Ukraine with the Brexit vote, saying "It is the instinct of the people of this country, like the people of Ukraine, to choose freedom every time. I can give you a couple of famous recent examples. When the British people voted for Brexit in such large numbers, I don't believe it was because they were remotely hostile to foreigners. It was because they wanted to be free."

The former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko highlighted what a poorly chosen comparison this was. He stated: "How many citizens of United Kingdom died because of Brexit? Zero. Can you imagine how many Ukrainians died before they met Putin and Russian? Thousands. Only today we have more that 150 children which were killed by Russian soldiers and by Russian artillery. Only during the last week, two thousand children, only from Mariupol, were captured and delivered back to Russia. Can I ask you, how many houses were destroyed because of Brexit? We have whole cities which were completely erased, starting from Mariupol which is much worse than Aleppo. Starting from here, 7 or 8km from you and from me, we have Bucha, Hostomel, we have Irpin, we have the city of Kyiv with the destroyed houses. With this situation definitely, please, no comparisons."

Verdict

Boris Johnson's comparison between Brexit and the invasion of Ukraine was not merely distasteful. It was also false.

We emailed Mr Johnson's office offering him the chance to respond. The email was received, but no reply.