Boris Johnson wishes Ukraine were able to join NATO before the war started (Image: Express)

       In new episodes of the BBC series Putin vs the West: At War, the former Prime Minister highlights regrets within the west over its treatment of Kyiv.

       Mr Johnson said: “There’s a deep institutional guilt in NATO because if NATO had followed through on the things that it had said and actually put the Ukrainians on a proper path to membership, there’s an argument to say that Putin would not have done what he did.

       “It was our collective ambiguity for so long, endlessly sucking and blowing at the same time, that was so fatal because Putin thought, ‘right well, they’re not serious,’”.

       During two new episodes, the first of which is screened tonight (Monday 29 January), Putin vs the West: At War tells the inside story of the year that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and how it rocked the foundations of European security.

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       Told by the presidents and prime ministers who lived through it, Western leaders explain the limits of their support for Ukraine, and just how far they were willing to go in risking bringing NATO into direct conflict with Russia.

       Reflecting on the early hours of the invasion, and the warnings of a Russian plot to assassinate him, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky tells the documentary: “I said, ‘I’m not going anywhere […] This is what we were elected for. For this day.’”

       And Mr Johnson explained that Mr Zelensky never “berated me for our failure to give enough fast enough” at the start of the war, “he was very philosophical but very clever.”

       The first episode also includes an extraordinary moment at the United Nations - as news of the invasion comes through in the middle of a meeting of the Security Council.

       After the invasion was launched, Mr Johnson said the UK had had to act quickly on sanctioning Russian interests.

       “We were acutely conscious from the outset that we would be pushed on Russian money in London. If we were going to ask other countries to stop taking Russian gas and Russian hydrocarbons, we had to make very sure that we were doing our best to get rid of dirty Russian money,” he said.

       But the limits of the West’s support for Ukraine were soon put to the test when Mr Zelensky urged his allies to impose a no-fly zone.

       “I remember talking it over in detail with Ben Wallace, my defence secretary, and he was very clear that it would mean me giving orders, or him giving orders, to our pilots to shoot down Russian fast jets. And that was going to be, that’s World War three, right?” Mr Johnson recalled.

       And NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told how he had to tell Mr Zelensky in a phone call that NATO would not provide the no-fly-zone.

       “President Zelensky was disappointed... It’s hard to tell someone suffering from air strikes day and night,” Mr Stoltenberg said.

       Both episodes of series two of Putin vs the West: At War will be available on BBC iPlayer on Monday 29 January. The first episode airs on BBC Two at 9pm on Monday

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