Boris Johnson and Volodymyr Zelensky both enjoy a joke – but only Ukraine has a real leader

At the start of the war, Ukraine and the UK both had leaders whose reputation was built on rhetoric and joke telling.

Over the past week, Volodymyr Zelensky has grown into a true leader. He has done it because of his close and immediate affiliation with his people, and a demonstrable will to stand with them even at his own peril.

Sadly, Boris Johnson has remained the man he was at the outset. Detached from the majority of his people, demonstrably not willing even to follow his own laws, concerned only for his own benefit.

He and his guardians would still have us believe that the UK is leading the world in the challenge to Vladimir Putin, when it is clear that the government has no desire to do more for humanitarian aid for example than the minimum possible to suggest it has done something.

Johnson’s leadership has shown that Partygate was not an aberration, it’s very much how he operates, and he is incapable of any other way.

The Ukrainian people now know they have a leader to rely on when need is greatest. We know now that we certainly do not.

Gary Wiltshire

Scallastle, Isle of Mull

Ukraine is led by a former comic actor who has developed magnificently into statesmanship as he leads his people against the Russian onslaught.

The UK is led by an erstwhile journalist who might have been expected to have at least some understanding of government, but who has descended into self-aggrandising, clowning and incompetence. Some of his behaviour bears more resemblance to that of Putin than of Volodymyr Zelensky.

I’ll refrain from listing Johnson’s misdemeanours, but this government’s refusal to allow Ukrainian refugees to enter the UK without visas marks a new low point, and further damages the reputation of our formerly esteemed country.

Susan Alexander

Frampton Cotterell, South Gloucestershire

In 2016, Theresa May declared without hesitation that she was willing to order a nuclear strike to kill hundreds of thousands of people if circumstances required.

At the time, there was no prospect of her having to do so. Now that the prospect has suddenly become real, one hopes that western nuclear powers commit to “no first use” which, at present, is not the case.

To start a nuclear war with a pre-emptive strike based on intelligence would be an act of extreme folly – remember Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

Robert Forsyth

Deddington, Oxfordshire

Thank you to Jess Phillips for putting the plight of Ukrainians into focus. I fully support the call for an urgent response to our fellow human beings in their hour of need.

Jane Penson

Chalfont St Giles

The immigration minister, Kevin Foster, suggested refugees from Ukraine could apply for fruit picking visas if they wanted to come to this country in a now-deleted tweet.

I wonder what would be the fate of those fleeing the war if Poland, for example, applied the same criteria as desperate women and children turned up at their border. “Sorry you can’t enter the country until you have had a prior visa application approved at our embassy in Kyiv” might be the border greeting.

Alan Pack

Canterbury, Kent

To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment, sign up to our free weekly Voices Dispatches newsletter by clicking here

Kevin Foster’s suggestion that refugees, who will be mostly women with children, traumatised and potentially recently widowed, should come here and solve the labour problem for fruit farmers was breathtakingly crass and insensitive. It is time for him to go!

Dr Ruth Campbell

Stirling

I find it unbelievable that President Biden thought that President Zelensky would accept his offer of flying him and his family out of Ukraine.

Either make the offer to all the people of Ukraine or don’t bother making an offer.

Kartar Uppal

Sutton Coldfield