David Cameron hails old foe Boris Johnson during first visit to Ukraine

LONDON — U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron made his first official visit to Ukraine on Thursday — and heaped praise on Boris Johnson’s support for the war-torn country.

Cameron, who served as Britain’s prime minister between 2010 and 2016, told President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the U.K. will continue to provide “moral support, the diplomatic support, the economic support, but above all the military support,” to Ukraine. 

And he paid rare tribute to his old foe Boris Johnson, with whom Zelenskyy struck up a close friendship during the early months of the war.

Cameron and Johnson were schoolfriends but fell out dramatically over the 2016 Brexit referendum, which ended Cameron’s six-year premiership .

Cameron told Zelenskyy: “I had some disagreements with Boris Johnson, he was my friend for forty years, but his support for you was the finest thing that he introduced.”

Cameron’s trip to Kyiv is his first overseas excursion since being appointed U.K. foreign secretary four days ago.

President Zelenskyy released a video of the meeting, in which he thanked Cameron for his visit.

“We are grateful for the unwavering support of Ukraine from the United Kingdom. We are grateful for the warm welcome of Ukrainian citizens in the U.K. And we are glad that you came to Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said.

“It’s very important now the world is not focused on our situation, or on our battlefield.”

This story is being updated.