Timing may not be everything, but it sure counts for a lot. By making a second, surprise visit to Kyiv on Friday just after a high-powered trio of European leaders had exited stage left, Prime Minister Johnson made it abundantly clear that, perhaps more than any other country in the world right now, Britain has Ukraine’s badly aching back. While it is not exactly clear what prompted the trip, the Times of London reported that Mr. Johnson is increasingly concerned that European allies including Germany and France will attempt to pressure President Zelensky into accepting a “bad peace deal.” 

The newspaper also reported that Mr. Johnson offered to launch a “major training operation” for the Ukrainian army, saying that Britain could train 10,000 soldiers every 120 days. On top of the large amount of military assistance London is providing to Ukraine compared to what has and has not been forthcoming from the European Union, the initiative comes as a brash display of British engagement in the Russia-Ukraine war and underscores Downing Street’s commitment to helping Ukraine win. 

Addressing Mr. Johnson during a joint statement to the press following the meeting at Kyiv, Mr. Zelensky’s office in a statement said, “I am very grateful to you for such attention to our nation, to all our people, to our state. And for Britain’s leadership and unprecedented support for Ukraine.” It added: “We have a common view on how to move towards victory. Because this is exactly the result that Ukraine needs — the victory of our state.”

Mr. Zelensky noted that this was Mr. Johnson’s second visit to Kyiv since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February. By contrast, the French president and the German chancellor had not traveled to Ukraine since the invasion prior to their brief visit that ended Thursday. Chancellor Scholz had been openly reluctant to travel to Kyiv and said he didn’t want to “join the queue of people who do a quick in-out for a photo opportunity.” Those words turned out to be somewhat self-defeating, for whether Mr. Johnson upstaged the German leader by design or coincidentally, upstage him he did. 

Mr. Scholz also dug in his heels with respect to dialogue with the Russian aggressor, Vladimir Putin, telling a German news agency on Friday that it is “absolutely necessary to speak to Putin, and I will continue to do so — as the French president will also.”

While in Kyiv, Mr. Johnson underlined the need to provide Ukraine with what Mr. Zelensky’s office termed a “strategic endurance.” The British government also takes a markedly different tack with respect to Moscow than France and Germany, with even the perception of kowtowing to Mr. Putin strictly out of the question. “I understand the need to continue financial support for Ukraine, to unblock grain exports that Putin has held hostage in an attempt to deprive the world of food,” Mr. Johnson said. 

There are also indications that, despite the widespread reports of the fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region having devolved into a protracted artillery war, the British material and moral support could already be bearing fruit. “The Ukrainian military is suffering, but there are all signs and evidence that Russian troops are under significant pressure, suffering heavy losses, and spending their weapons enormously,” Mr. Johnson said.  “In 114 days of the attack on Ukraine, they have not yet achieved the objectives they’ve set for themselves for the first week.”

The new British training program could “change the equation of the war,” Mr. Johnson told Mr. Zelensky, because it would give the Ukrainian army “the resilience they need to be victorious in their fight for enduring peace.” The Times of London reported that the initiative would succeed Operation Orbital, under which the United Kingdom trained more than 22,000 Ukrainian soldiers since 2015, and that the training will take place outside of Ukraine.