Boris Johnson offers Ukraine military training boost during surprise visit for talks with Zelensky

UK-led programme could train up to 10,000 troops every 120 days in bid to ‘change the equation’ in war with Russia

Boris Johnson has offered battle training for tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops during an unannounced visit to Kyiv for talks with president Volodymyr Zelensky.

The prime minister’s second trip to the war-torn country came a day after a joint visit by French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian PM Mario Draghi and two months after his own first meeting with Zelensky in the Ukrainian capital.

Mr Johnson said that a UK-led programme using British Army expertise could train as many as 10,000 Ukrainian service personnel every 120 days, in a move which he said could “change the equation” in what has become a drawn-out war of attrition against Russian invaders.