In London, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Andy Burnham. During the meeting, the leaders discussed financial and defense support for our country, strengthening defense cooperation, and responding to current challenges.
The meeting began with a special welcome ceremony featuring an honor guard outside the UK Prime Minister’s residence.
The Head of State thanked the British government and people for their strong support for Ukraine from the very beginning of the war.
“First of all, we, our people, have survived and continue to do so because we have strong partners, and I’m very proud that we have one of the strongest partners in our history. It’s your people, Andy. I’m very thankful to you personally, to your team, and, of course, to the people of the United Kingdom. I’m thankful to His Majesty,” the President said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that overnight into Wednesday, Russia attacked Ukraine with 39 ballistic missiles and more than 100 “shahed” drones. The attack killed and injured people.
“And right now, there are still more than 40 “shaheds” in our skies. They attack energy infrastructure, logistics, and railways. We managed to shoot down a significant number of the drones, but some got through. In terms of scale, this is one of the largest attacks. It is clear that the Russians are trying to take advantage of the problems with Starlink in Ukraine, as our interceptor drones depend on this connection among other things,” the Head of State added.
The President stressed that this makes strengthening air defenses and providing Ukraine with everything it needs to protect lives especially important right now.
“Of course, this is not an energy ceasefire. It looks like an absolute continuation of escalation from the Russian side. We are ready for any kind of ceasefire. We have repeated and reminded President Trump and all nations that we have been ready from the very, very beginning of the Russian occupation to stop this war, sit down, and talk. Any kind of dialogue is better than attacks,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom announced that deliveries of British-made air defense systems to Ukraine will be accelerated.
“I've also asked all of our ministers here in the government to do whatever they can extra to support you, and we are looking at all possible avenues,” Andy Burnham said.
The Ukrainian leader thanked the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for the decision to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses.
The Prime Minister emphasized that his country will continue to support Ukraine and expressed his condolences over the Ukrainians killed in Russian attacks.
“Sadly, what we have seen from Russia is further attacks on critical national infrastructure in Ukraine. It's clear to the world, again, who the aggressor is,” Andy Burnham noted.
This was the second meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Andy Burnham in the United Kingdom. Their first meeting took place at the Royal Navy base in Portsmouth in July this year, when Andy Burnham took office.
