Keir Starmer has made a surprise trip to Kyiv to show support for Ukraine, which has been enduring a war for almost three years, according to officials.
During his visit, the Prime Minister is set to finalize a significant agreement to enhance security cooperation between the UK and Ukraine for the next century. He will hold discussions with President Volodymyr Zelensky, as stated by Downing Street.
This visit is crucial as tensions rise with Russia threatening Ukraine’s allies in the West and with the upcoming inauguration of Donald Trump as the President of the United States on Monday.
It marks Sir Keir’s first visit to the country since taking office last summer.
The Prime Minister was greeted at Kyiv railway station by the U.K. ambassador to Ukraine, Martin Harris, and Ukraine’s envoy to London, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.
Starmer is due to announce another 40 million pounds for Ukraine’s post-war economic recovery, on top of the £12.8bn in military and civilian aid offered since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Keir Starmer arrives at Kyiv train station on January 16, 2025 in Kyiv
The British Prime Minister’s visit to Ukraine comes at a pivotal moment for Ukraine’s allies in the conflict against Russia, ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday
The Prime Minister is expected to sign a ‘landmark 100-year partnership to deepen security ties’ between the UK and Ukraine
Britain has also helped train more than 50,000 Ukrainian troops on British soil amid a gruelling defence against Russia’s invasion.
Sir Keir will be hoping to reassure President Zelenskyy that Ukraine still enjoys the support of its Western, liberal backers against the tyranny of a foreign invader.
But the fate of American support for Ukraine once Trump takes office on January 20 is less clear.
While Britain has shelled out approximately £4.3bn a year for Ukraine – about 0.14 per cent of GDP – the United States has contributed $65.9 billion since February 2022, the State Department reported last week.
The president-elect has balked at the cost of U.S. aid to Kyiv, says he wants to bring the war to a swift end and is planning to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, for whom he has long expressed admiration.
Kyiv’s allies – including Joe Biden – have rushed to flood Ukraine with as much support as possible before Trump’s inauguration, with the aim of putting Ukraine in the strongest position possible for any future negotiations to end the war.
Zelenskyy has said that in any peace negotiation, Ukraine would need assurances about its future protection from its much bigger neighbor, which has controlled parts of the country since 2014.
Britain says its 100-year pledge is part of that assurance, and will help ensure that Ukraine is ‘never again vulnerable to the kind of brutality inflicted on it by Russia’.
Sir Keir Starmer is greeted by Ukrainian officials and the British ambassador to Ukraine Martin Harris (right) as he arrives at Kyiv train station
Keir Starmer (R) and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky speak during a bilateral meeting inside 10 Downing Street on October 10, 2024 in London
Keir Starmer (right) meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Speaker’s House in the Palace of Westminster on February 8, 2023
Russia seized Crimea nearly 11 years ago and attempted a full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Ukraine also endured great hardship under Soviet rule, from the pogroms and political repression of the Lenin era to the Holodomor genocide of the 1930s and the covered-up Chernobyl disaster of 1986 which predated the collapse of the USSR.
The deal between Britain and Ukraine will commit the two sides to cooperate on defense, especially maritime security against Russian activity in the Batlic Sea, Black Sea and Sea of Azov.
It will also see collaboration on technology projects including drones, which have become vital weapons for both sides in the war.
The treaty additionally includes a system to help track stolen Ukrainian grain exported by Russia from occupied parts of the country.
‘Putin’s ambition to wrench Ukraine away from its closest partners has been a monumental strategic failure. Instead, we are closer than ever, and this partnership will take that friendship to the next level,’ Starmer said ahead of the visit.
‘This is not just about the here and now, it is also about an investment in our two countries for the next century, bringing together technology development, scientific advances and cultural exchanges, and harnessing the phenomenal innovation shown by Ukraine in recent years for generations to come.’
The fate of American support for Ukraine once Trump takes office on January 20 is less clear
Ukrainian servicemen train at the polygon in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025
Ukrainian servicemen prepare a reconnaissance drone for deployment in the area of Pokrovsk, Ukraine on January 14, 2025
Zelenskyy says he and Starmer also will discuss a plan proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron that would see troops from France and other Western countries stationed in Ukraine to oversee a ceasefire agreement.
Zelenskyy has said any such proposal should go alongside a timeline for Ukraine to join NATO.
The alliance’s 32 member countries say that Ukraine will join one day, but not until after the war.
Trump has appeared to sympathise with Putin’s position that Ukraine should not be part of NATO.
As the grinding war nears the three-year mark, both Russia and Ukraine are pushing for battlefield gains ahead of possible peace talks.
Ukraine has started a second offensive in Russia’s Kursk region, where it is struggling to hang onto a chunk of territory it captured last year, and has stepped up drone and missile attacks on weapons sites and fuel depots inside Russia.
Moscow is slowly taking territory at the cost of high casualties, along the 600-mile (1,000-kilometer) front line in eastern Ukraine and launching intense barrages at Ukraine’s energy system, seeking to deprive Ukrainians of heat and light in the depths of winter.
A major Russian ballistic and cruise missile attack on regions across Ukraine on Wednesday, and compelling authorities to shut down the power grid in some areas.
