Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson presented his book “No Shackles” (originally Unleashed) as part of the Lviv BookForum festival. Its translation into Ukrainian was published by the Kharkov publishing house "
Suspilne Lviv reports this.. During the presentation, moderated by historian Vladimir Vyatrovich, Johnson spoke about Russia's war against Ukraine.
" This publishing house also suffered from an attack on warehouses. But Putin should read this book because from it he can find out why he will lose. He will never be able to break Ukraine and conquer the Ukrainians,” he stressed..
Boris Johnson recalled the times when he served as mayor of London and also served as British Foreign Secretary. The politician also spoke about Brexit (Brexit is the abbreviated name for the process of the UK leaving the EU) and the future entry of Ukraine into the European Union.
“Now people in the West have forgotten that Ukraine was attacked back in 2014. We should have told Putin what later turned out to be true: we will arm Ukraine. We should have said: if you do this, we will provide Ukraine with a lot of weapons and money. But we didn't. And the world paid a high price because we didn't do enough to stop it in 2022,"
He noted the resistance demonstrated by Ukrainians in the war against Russia and the support for Ukraine in the UK.
" You keep this fire of freedom alive. You inspire people in Britain, there is very strong support for Ukrainians there. Ukrainian flags hang in my town. You fight for democracy and freedom around the world. But these are very tragic events and you are not getting help as quickly as you should.. For example, Putin’s assets are frozen in Belgian banks - that’s 140 billion, which could be unfrozen and transferred to help Ukraine,” Johnson said.
The former prime minister assured that his country will continue to support Ukrainians in protecting themselves from Russian aggression.
The book " With self-irony and frankness, the author talks about his career, which had to endure numerous crises and trials.. Without neglecting his professional successes, Johnson dares to talk about his controversial decisions and political scandals.
In this work, he appears not only as a talented politician, but also as a skilled master of autobiographical prose who knows how to captivate the attention of readers, reports the Vivat publishing house..
The book became a bestseller thanks to its frank, lively, emotional narrative and behind-the-scenes insights that had never been heard before.. The publication contains an introductory speech by Valery Zaluzhny, the Ambassador of Ukraine to the UK and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2021-2024. The book was nominated for the 2025 British Book Award in the Non-Fiction category.
According to Johnson, he wanted to see first-hand the conditions in which Ukrainians are on the front line, and also understand why the UK should increase assistance to Ukraine.