Starmer travels to Ukraine to sign partnership deal lasting ‘for generations’
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Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has been a “monumental strategic failure”, Sir Keir Starmer said as he travelled to the country to sign a new long-term partnership deal with Volodymyr Zelensky. The 100 Year Partnership includes defence and scientific collaboration but will also forge new community links between the UK and Ukraine.
The agreement will bolster military collaboration on maritime security and will bring together experts in areas including drone technology. The Prime Minister, visiting Ukraine for the first time since entering No 10, said the deal showed Mr Putin’s attempts to pull Ukraine away from the West had backfired.
The visit comes just days before Donald Trump enters the White House, potentially signalling a shift in US support for Ukraine’s war effort in favour of a push for a peace deal. The US President-elect’s pick for secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said on Wednesday that both the Ukraine and Russia would have to make concessions to end the war.
He said it was important to be “realistic” that “there will have to be concessions made by the Russian Federation, but also by the Ukrainians”. Sir Keir is expected to use the Ukraine trip to announce new UK support including further military aid and economic support.
Ahead of the visit, Mr Zelensky had suggested he would use the meeting to discuss the prospect of British troops being deployed to Ukraine as peacekeepers following any ceasefire deal with the Kremlin. The Prime Minister said: “Putin’s ambition to wrench Ukraine away from its closest partners has been a monumental strategic failure.
