Seeking to shore up support more than three years into Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a surprise visit to London on Monday, June 23, cementing a deal to jointly produce military drones. Zelensky met with Starmer at his Downing Street home, after earlier visiting King Charles III at Windsor Castle. The trip comes on the eve of a NATO summit in The Hague, which Zelensky is due to attend.
According to a statement released late on Monday by Starmer’s office, the two countries will share “battlefield technology,” with “data sets from Ukraine’s front line set to be plugged into UK production lines, allowing British defense firms to rapidly design and build, at scale, cutting edge military equipment available nowhere else in the world.”
“Initial agreements between defense firms in both countries are expected to be rolled out in the coming weeks, with the aim of delivering Ukraine large numbers of battle-proven drones to continue to stave off Russia’s barbaric invasion over the coming months and years,” the statement said.
Earlier, Starmer told Ukrainian military personnel undergoing training in the UK that he and Zelensky had held “an excellent bilateral meeting,” adding that it was “really a privilege, a pleasure” to welcome the Ukrainian leader, calling him “a regular now at Downing Street.”
Starmer told the Ukrainian troops it was “really humbling” to see their “level of professionalism, commitment and bravery.” More than 50,000 troops have now been trained as part of the international partnership. Zelensky said the scheme had helped “strengthen our army” and enabled Ukraine to “survive and fight.”
The UK has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters since Russia invaded in early 2022, levelling rounds of sanctions against Moscow and supplying multiple packages of military aid.
Crucial summit
Starmer promised the support would continue “for the rest of the conflict” and help put Ukraine in “the strongest possible position” to negotiate a ceasefire.
Zelensky said his country was “very thankful to the UK for such big support of Ukraine from the very beginning of this war.” The Ukrainian leader earlier travelled to Windsor Castle, where he “visited The King and remained to luncheon,” Buckingham Palace said.
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Zelensky is expected at the NATO summit in The Hague on Tuesday and Wednesday, where Ukraine’s allies will work “to ensure that Ukraine is in the best possible position as we go into the next stage of this conflict,” according to Starmer.
NATO allies are poised to take a “quantum leap” by hiking defense spending to counter the threat of Russia, Secretary General Mark Rutte said on the eve of the two-day summit. The alliance’s 32 members will pledge to boost defense expenditure to 5% of gross domestic product, a key demand of President Donald Trump, who has long grumbled that the US pays too much for NATO.
NATO’s members have thrashed out a compromise deal to dedicate at least 3.5% of GDP to core military needs by 2035, and 1.5% to broader security-related items like cyber-security and infrastructure.
“The defense investment plan that allies will agree in The Hague introduces a new baseline, 5% of GDP to be invested in defense,” Rutte told reporters at a pre-summit news conference.
“This is a quantum leap that is ambitious, historic and fundamental to securing our future.”
