He said this after returning from Kiev, which he visited the day before - the second time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The day before, the organizer of "Eurovision" - the European Broadcasting Union - said that contrary to the rules under which the competition should be held by the previous year's winner, the raid due to hostilities and related threats "Eurovision" will not be held in Ukraine.

This year's winner of the competition was the Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra - due to the unanimous vote of viewers in almost all European countries.

According to Johnson, the Ukrainians won the competition "honestly and fairly" and should be able to hold it in 2023.

The British Prime Minister noted that the next competition is almost a year away, and he hopes that by then "everything will be fine" and Ukraine will be able to hold it.

According to him, the country deserves it.

The competition, according to Johnson, could be held in Kiev or another "safe city".

At the same time, the organizers proposed to hold "Eurovision-2023" in Britain, whose representative took second place this year.

Johnson said he would be happy to hold the contest in the UK, but Ukraine deserves it more.

The organizers said the day before that together with Ukrainian partners and other experts they assessed the possibility of holding a competition in Ukraine, including on security issues, and came to the conclusion that it is impossible.

The Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, however, said it would challenge the decision.

Ukraine hosted Eurovision twice: in 2005 and 2017 - after the victory of its representatives.

After the victory of the Kalush Orchestra, President Vladimir Zelensky expressed hope that in the future the competition will be held in Mariupol, which at the time of "Eurovision-2022" was besieged by Russian troops.

Now the city, which was badly damaged during the fighting, is under the control of Russia and the DNR separatists.

Russian troops withdrew from Kyiv in April, and the Ukrainian capital is now out of range.

However, sometimes it is still hit by missiles.

Russia's war against Ukraine

• At 5 am on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a military operation against Ukraine in the Donbas at the request of the DNR and LNR groups.

  On February 21, during a televised address to the Russians, Putin called the so-called "DPR" and "LPR" independent states within the regions.

  On February 22, the Federation Council ratified the decision.

• All the days of the war are shelling Ukrainian cities with missiles, flying aircraft.

  Russian troops are attacking, including from the territory of Belarus, using airfields, bases and roads.

  Representatives of the Lukashenko regime justify the war, the opposition considers the territory of Belarus occupied and calls for resistance to Russian invaders.

• On February 27, the International Legion of Territorial Defense was established in Ukraine, and foreign volunteers were encouraged to join.

  Belarusians also entered there.

  During the two and a half months of the war, six Belarusian volunteers and soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were killed at the front: Alexei "Tour" Skobla, Ilya "Litvin" Khrenov, Dmitry "Terror" Apanasovich, Dmitry "Hans" Rubashevsky, Konstantin "Phoenix" Phoenix "Dubaila" and .

• On March 30, the UN approved the composition of an independent commission to investigate Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

  It included people who worked in the conflict in Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

• Contrary to Putin's claims of attacks exclusively on military facilities, the Russians are bombing schools, kindergartens and residential areas of Ukrainian cities.

  The Russians are using banned weapons, including cluster bombs against civilians.

• The number of refugees from Ukraine exceeded 5.5 million people.

• On April 1, Lithuania became the first EU country to completely abandon Russian gas.

  Latvia and Estonia followed suit.

  Germany has promised to completely suspend the use of Russian oil by the end of 2022.

• On April 2, after the liberation of the city of Bucha near Kiev, photojournalists published dozens of photos showing hundreds of the dead, victims of massacres committed by Russian troops.

  Many are buried in natural mass graves.

  The Russian occupation and Borodyanka brought great destruction.

  A number of rapes, including infants, are also known.

• In April, the number of missile attacks on Ukraine and air strikes from Belarus decreased, and Russian troops began to leave Belarus.

• Since the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 26 media representatives have been killed - 19 journalists and 7 other workers.

• In May, the Ukrainians launched a counteroffensive in the Slobozhanshchina region, pushing the invaders to their borders.

• On May 9, the President of the United States signed the Land League Act.

  This law restores the program of the Second World War, which will accelerate the supply of weapons to Ukraine and increase such assistance.

• On the night of May 17, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Anna Malyar confirmed the start of an operation to rescue Ukrainian servicemen trapped in the territory of "Azovstal".

  According to her, 53 seriously injured people were evacuated from there to the medical institution of occupied Novoazovsk.

  Another 211 people were taken to Alenivka along the humanitarian corridor.

  Russia's Defense Ministry says nearly 1,000 Ukrainian fighters at the plant "surrendered" as of May 18.

  The International Committee of the Red Cross has officially registered these fighters as prisoners of war.

• Independent verification of information about hostilities provided by officials of various parties is not yet possible.