The National Association of Ukrainian Defense Industry (NAUDI) shared the information on Facebook. Johnson made the remarks at the Ukrainian Defense Innovation Forum, held with NAUDI’s support.Johnson said that President Trump himself had rightly emphasized the need to give Ukrainians permission to use those weapons against bases used to kill civilians, even if those bases were located in Russia. He questioned why Russia was allowed to strike anywhere in Ukraine while Ukraine was denied the right to respond.He stressed that Ukraine primarily needs financial support to strengthen its own defense capabilities.According to Johnson, ending the war requires removing strategic uncertainty and sending a clear signal to the Kremlin that Ukraine is part of the Western security system. He stated that it was necessary to demonstrate through actions that Ukraine had chosen the West and that it would be supported in this choice. He added that this was why the idea of a “coalition of the willing” was so important, as expanding existing formats of cooperation would allow the West to collectively show that Putin did not decide which foreign countries could assist Ukraine in its defense, but that such decisions were for Ukrainians themselves to make.He continued that Ukraine’s future was a matter of identity and choice, not territory. Johnson emphasized that it was about destiny and identity, noting that Ukraine had chosen the path to the West and that this choice needed to be confirmed through Western presence in Ukraine and security guarantees, making clear that the country was moving toward European and ultimately NATO institutions.At the same time, he said that a ceasefire could offer a way out of the situation, even if it meant freezing the conflict. He suggested that a ceasefire could be a good solution, despite leaving Putin with de facto control over a significant part of Ukraine, and stressed that this would not compromise Ukraine’s sovereignty. Johnson added that such a measure would give Putin an exit and allow Ukrainians to know they had effectively saved their country and democracy, while calling on Ukraine’s global allies to show at least a fraction of the courage displayed by Ukrainians to achieve a resolution that ensured a free, sovereign, and independent Ukraine.After the speech, Ukrainian veterans presented Boris Johnson with a trophy fragment of a Shahed drone used by Russian troops to attack Ukrainian settlements.