British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Kyiv on Thursday on an unannounced visit to sign a “100-year accord” and shore up support for Ukraine before Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Loud blasts and air raid sirens rang out over Kyiv hours after Starmer’s arrival as air defence systems in central Kyiv repelled a Russian drone attack, officials and AFP journalists reported.
The PUNCH reports that it is Starmer’s first official visit to Kyiv since taking office last July, and comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky holds a flurry of meetings with his country’s allies before Trump’s return next week.
The prime minister was due to sign a “landmark 100-year partnership to deepen security ties” between the UK and Ukraine and meet Zelensky, Downing Street said in a statement.
“Putin’s ambition to wrench Ukraine away from its closest partners has been a monumental strategic failure,” Starmer said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago.
“Instead, we are closer than ever, and this partnership will take that friendship to the next level,” he said of the accord.
The deal commits the two sides to cooperate on defence and battlefield technology, such as drones, while implementing a system to help locate grain exported by Russia from occupied parts of Ukraine.
“This is not just about the here and now, it is also about an investment in our two countries for the next century,” added Starmer.
He was also expected to announce an extra £40 million to aid Ukraine’s post-war economic recovery.
Starmer kicked off the visit by laying wreaths with Zelensky to commemorate killed Ukrainian soldiers and visited a burns hospital treating wounded servicemen.
