The tearful Ukrainian campaigner who broke down as she confronted Boris is an American-educated anti-corruption chief who fled Kyiv but has family still stuck in under-siege capital
The woman who broke down in tears as she demanded Boris Johnson tighten UK sanctions against Russia is a high-profile Ukrainian campaigner who helped establish the country’s anti-corruption court.
Daria Kaleniuk’s voice began to crack as she urged the Prime Minister to impose tougher sanctions on Russia and its oligarchs following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
During a press conference in Poland, where Mr Johnson is visiting today ahead of talks with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Ms Kaleniuk said Ukrainian children were ‘taking the hit’ because of the refusal of NATO to get involved in the conflict.
She also urged the Prime Minister to get tough on Russian billionaires such as Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich and their families, including Vladimir Putin’s, who she said were safe ‘in mansions’ while Ukrainian children were hiding in bomb shelters.
Mr Abramovich vehemently denies he is close to the Kremlin or has done anything that would merit sanctions being imposed against him.
Breaking into tears as she talked, Ms Kaleniuk, who said she recently fled her home in Kyiv, where many of her family and colleagues remain, she told the Prime Minister: ‘These are Ukrainian children who are there taking the hit.
‘You’re talking about more sanctions Prime Minister but Roman Abramovich is not sanctioned.
‘His children are not in the bombardments. His children are there in London. Putin’s children are in Netherlands, in Germany, in mansions, where all these mentioned seized? I don’t see that.
‘I see that my family members, that my team members, I’d say that we crying. We don’t know where to run. This is what is happening Prime Minister.’
Ms Kaleniuk, believed to be a mother-of-two, is the co-founder and executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC), an organisation that has shaped Ukraine’s anti-corruption legislation
After listening in awkward silence, Mr Johnson replied that he was doing what he could, but ‘cannot pretend’ that the West will step in militarily.
‘Unfortunately the implication of that would be that the UK would be engaged in shooting down Russian planes, engaged in direct combat with Russia, that’s not something we can do,’ he said.
The confrontation came after Mr Johnson accused Mr Putin of using ‘barbaric and indiscriminate tactics’ against innocent Ukrainian civilians.
As the invading forces escalated their attacks with harrowing pictures of children falling victim to the violence, he warned that the world was witnessing an ‘unfolding disaster’.
The UN says at least 136 civilians have been killed so far, including 13 children, and hundreds more injured.
Source: UK Daily Mail