UK Prime Minister Receives Zelensky, Promises Ukraine More Weapons
The UK will send hundreds of air defense missiles and armed drones to Ukraine on top of the storm shadow cruise missiles announced last week.
The move means the UK is going further than any other country in providing weapons with the potentials to tip the battle in favour of in Ukraine.
Earlier on Monday, president Volodymyr Zelensky met his UK’s counterpart, Rishi Sunak as part of his tour of western ally countries.
Mr Zelensky said it was important for the west to send fighter jets as well.
But the UK prime minister said providing fighter jets was not a straightforward thing, although he did say the uk would form a key part of the coalition countries providing that support.
The prime minister’s official spokesman also denied that any drones supplied by the UK would be used to hit targets inside Russia.
They would be used for the defence of Ukraine on Ukrainian sovereign territory, the spokesman said.
Mr Sunak said: “This is a crucial moment in Ukraine’s resistance to a terrible war of aggression they did not choose or provoke.
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“They need the sustained support of the international community to defend against the barrage of unrelenting and indiscriminate attacks that have been their daily reality for over a year.”
In response, Russia said the new British weapons due to be supplied to Kyiv would only cause “further destruction”.
“Britain aspires to position itself at the forefront of the countries that continue to pump weapons into Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Ukraine secured a new defence aid package from Germany after talks in Berlin with Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday, taking its total military funding to nearly $7bn (£6.44bn).
Mr Zelensky described the new pledge of German Leopard tanks and anti-aircraft systems as “the largest since the beginning of the full-scale aggression” by Russia in February 2022.
France has promised dozens more light tanks and armoured vehicles after President Emmanuel Macron met his Ukrainian counterpart in Paris.
In February, Mr Zelensky visited London for the first time since the start of the war, during which he attended an audience with the King and addressed Parliament.
His latest visit to the UK comes ahead of a G7 gathering in Hiroshima, Japan, later this week which will also be attended by Mr Sunak.
