UK Leader Starmer signs ‘100-year partnership’ deal with Ukraine during visit to Kiev

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed a 100-year alliance with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday, part of a show of European support and a pledge to help Ukraine endure a nearly three-year war with Russia.

The announcement comes days before Donald Trump is sworn in as US president, questioning US military pressure in Europe and plans to end the continent’s biggest conflict since World War II.

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Starmer told Zelensky during his visit to Kiev: “We promise not just today or tomorrow, not just this year or next year, but for 100 years – after this terrible war is over and Ukraine is free and growing again.” The UK will “play our part” to ensure Ukraine’s security after the war.

Starmer said the century-old agreement would allow the two sides to cooperate on defense — especially maritime security against Russian activity in the Baltic Sea, Black Sea and Sea of ​​Azov — and technology projects, including drones, have become important tools for both. Parties to the war. The agreement also includes a system to track stolen Ukrainian grain exports from Russian-occupied parts of the country.

Ukraine’s alignment with the West and future NATO membership has angered Russian President Vladimir Putin, who still wants to influence his own country.

Debris from a Russian drone shot down by Ukraine’s air defenses fell in at least four districts of Kiev as Starmer was meeting with Zelenskiy at the presidential palace, city administration chief Timur Takenko said. One was near the baroque presidential palace where the two men met.

Starmer said the drones are a reminder of what the Ukrainian people are up against and their determination.

Starmer’s surprise visit was his first to Ukraine since taking office in July, although he said it was his seventh meeting with Zelensky.

The Italian defense chief was in Kiev on Thursday, two days after a visit by Germany’s defense minister and three days after Zelensky spoke by phone with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The flurry of diplomatic activity comes in the days before Trump’s inauguration on Monday, which is expected to lead to a departure from the outgoing US administration’s pledge to stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes to defeat Russia. Trump also indicated that he wants Europe to shoulder more of the burden in helping Ukraine.

Kiev’s allies are rushing to flood Ukraine with as much support as possible, aiming to put Ukraine in a strong position for future negotiations to end the general occupation that began on February 24, 2022.

Ukrainians want concessions that Trump’s plan doesn’t like, such as giving up territory. Zelensky said he wanted security guarantees that Russia would not invade again in the future.

Starmer told a joint news conference: “We need to look at practical ways of ending this war, of achieving a just and lasting peace…

Zelensky said the two leaders had discussed an idea floated by Macron to pursue a future ceasefire, but “it is too early to talk about details.”

Starmer told the Ukrainian leader: “We will work with you and all our partners to take strong steps to ensure the security of Ukraine,” leaving the door open for UK involvement.

“Those talks will continue for several months,” Starmer said.

Zelenskyy has already discussed a possible peacekeeping force with the Baltic states, France and Poland. But he said that it can only be a part of the security solution, and he said, “We are not looking at security guarantees outside the United States.”

Starmer agreed that Washington’s role in Ukraine is “important”. The United States is the country’s largest military supporter and supplier of advanced weapons.

“We will continue to work with the US on this,” Starmer said.

Starmer By 2025, the UK will provide Ukraine with “more military support than ever before,” he said. His country is giving 3 billion pounds ($3.6 billion) in military aid this year, including 150 more artillery barrels and a British-designed mobile air defense system, the Gravhawk. After the war broke out, Britain pledged 12.8 billion pounds ($15.6 billion) in military and civilian aid.

During the day’s visit, Starmer and Zelensky laid flowers at the memorial wall for those killed in the war. A wall outside St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery, a historic site of Kiev that stretches for a city block, is covered with photos of the slaughtered people. It has become a place of pilgrimage for families paying tribute to their dead relatives.

Starmer visited a Kyiv hospital specializing in burn treatment and an exhibition of drone technology.

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As the war approaches three years, Russia and Ukraine are both pushing for battlefield gains ahead of peace talks. Ukraine has launched a second offensive in Russia’s Kursk region, where it is fighting to hang on to some of the land it captured last year, stepping up drone and missile attacks on Russian weapons and oil depots.

Moscow has been slowly taking control of a 600-mile (1,000-kilometer) front in eastern Ukraine at the cost of heavy casualties and launching massive raids on Ukraine’s energy system, seeking to deprive Ukrainians of heat and light in the depths of winter. A major Russian ballistic and cruise missile attack on regions in Ukraine on Wednesday forced authorities to shut down the power grid in some areas.