by James Tweedie Boris Johnson led the charge on arming Ukraine – both before and during Moscow's military operation – and imposing sanctions and embargoes on Russian exports that prompted a Europe-wide inflationary crisis. Now the former Prime Minister says that European leaders had hoped for a quick Russian victory in Ukraine. In a TV interview last week with a US channel, Johnson also conceded that there were "sound economic reasons" for Germany wanting Kiev to agree swiftly to a peace deal with Moscow but that he "couldn't support" it. It was Johnson – backed by Washington – who persuaded Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to break off peace talks with Russia just a month into the conflict, when they were on the verge of a breakthrough, during a visit to Kiev in late March. But a US military analyst says Johnson "miscalculated" by encouraging the clash with Russia. "The Germans, for all sorts of sound economic