UK Defense Secretary John Healey stated that he would detain Russian leader Vladimir Putin and bring him to justice for war crimes, if given the opportunity.
He made the remark during a January 9 interview with The Kyiv Independent, while visiting a residential area in Kyiv recently struck by a Russian drone attack.
According to The Kyiv Independent, Healey responded to a hypothetical question about which world leader he would most like to kidnap, saying, “I’d take Putin into custody and hold him account for war crimes.”
Standing near a high-rise residential building damaged by the strike, Healey referenced both the drone attack and earlier atrocities committed during the war.
“What I saw in Bucha on one of my first visits to Ukraine,” he said, was among the crimes for which Putin should be held responsible. He also cited “the abduction of some of the Ukrainian kids that I met in Irpin” as further evidence.
The British defense official added, pointing to the damaged building behind him, that it “tells you all you need to know about Putin and his determination not just to wage a war on Ukraine, but to target civilians, cities, [and] the infrastructure that people absolutely critically depend on in the middle of winter.”
“This is a man who must be stopped. This is a war that must be stopped. And our mission is to support Ukraine in its fight today and to help work to secure the peace for the moment,” he added.
Healey’s remarks came shortly after a major Russian drone and missile strike on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight on January 8–9. According to Ukrainian officials, the attack killed at least four people and injured 24 others in the capital, knocking out electricity and heating systems amid sub-zero temperatures.
The comments from the UK defense secretary were made in a broader international context, following the recent US operation in which Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was taken into custody—an act that has intensified global debate over the enforcement of international law and accountability.
Earlier, In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin over the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian civilians, including children, from occupied territories to Russia.
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