Prime minister Andy Burnham will host Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Downing Street on Wednesday in a display of continued British backing for Ukraine, Downing Street has confirmed.
The meeting comes as Zelenskyy faces renewed friction with Donald Trump, who recently agreed to purchase Russian diesel, called for a change in Ukrainian leadership, and announced an energy-infrastructure ceasefire that the Ukrainian president said he had not been informed about.
Burnham said his message to Kyiv would be unequivocal: “We are with you for as long as it takes.” He added that British support was “vital for keeping us safe here in the UK” and that Russia’s aggression “cannot be allowed to succeed on our continent.”
To coincide with the visit, the government announced it would accelerate part of a £1.6 billion package to supply more than 5,000 lightweight multi-role missiles (LMMs) to Ukraine. The missiles are intended to counter a new generation of Russian jet-powered drones that fly faster and higher than the propeller-driven Shahed drones previously used, making them harder to intercept.
Chancellor John Healey will separately use the International Monetary Fund summit in Bangkok to press other nations to impose a full maritime services ban on exports of Russian liquefied natural gas.
Burnham and Zelenskyy have met twice since the prime minister took office in July — at Portsmouth naval base that month and in Kyiv in August. The last UK visit by Zelenskyy followed a contentious Oval Office encounter with Trump and his vice-president, JD Vance, 18 months ago, after which then-prime minister Keir Starmer hosted the Ukrainian leader at Downing Street and King Charles received him at Sandringham.
Zelenskyy has criticised Trump’s diesel deal with Moscow, saying subsequent Russian strikes on Ukrainian civilian targets amounted to a “thanks” from Vladimir Putin.
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