Volodymyr Zelensky arrives at Downing Street to meet with Keir Starmer and address Cabinet CREDIT: Geoff Pugh/The Telegraph
By Iona Cleave
19 July, 2024
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky have scheduled a phone call for today, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The call would mark their first conversation since the former US president left the White House in 2021 and comes amid growing concern that Trump will curb support for Kyiv if he wins the election in November.
CNN also reported on Thursday that there have been discussions for some time about the right time for the Republican nominee and the Ukrainian leader to talk.
Mr Zelensky said on Thursday while attending the European Political Community UK summit that Trump returning to the White House would be “hard work, but we are hard workers”.
Referring to the position JD Vance, Trump’s pick for vice-president, has taken on Ukraine, he told the BBC: “Maybe he really doesn’t care, but we have to work with the United States.”
Zelensky praises UK support for Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelensky has praised the UK for its steadfast support for Ukraine as he met with representatives of British defence companies.
“The United Kingdom was the first country in Europe to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons, tanks, and long-range weapons,” he wrote on X on Thursday evening.
His comments come during his trip to the UK, only his third visit since Russia’s full-scale invasion, as he prepares to address Keir Starmer’s new Cabinet on Friday and discuss “strong decisions” over the war in Ukraine in a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський
I had an important meeting with representatives of British defense companies. We discussed joint defense production, with a primary focus on ammunition, air defense systems, artillery, armored vehicles, and drones. The United Kingdom was the first country in Europe to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons, tanks, and long-range weapons. We also signed our first security agreement with the UK. And we continue to deepen our cooperation in the defense sector.
UK signals go-ahead for Storm Shadows strikes inside Russia
The UK intends to allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadow missiles for defensive strikes against targets in Russia, Defence Secretary John Healey said.
“We’re providing weapons to Ukraine for their defence of their sovereign country. And that does not preclude them hitting targets in Russia.
“But that must be done by the Ukrainians, it must be done within the parameters and the bounds of international humanitarian law,” he told BBC Radio 4.
It comes after sustained calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to lift restrictions on the use of Western-supplied long-range missiles to strike inside Russia.
Asked whether Mr Zelensky can hit where Russian missiles are coming from, the Cabinet minister said “these are complex questions” and that he would not “discuss the details of those sorts of things in public”.
UK to provide military aid for Ukraine ‘for rest of decade’
The UK will provide military aid funding to Ukraine “for every year for the rest of the decade,” John Healey, the Defence Secretary, said.
“If we take the starting point that the defence of the UK starts in Ukraine and if Putin wins in Ukraine he will not stop there, then we must stand with Ukraine, we’re determined to do that,” he told Times Radio.
“And it isn’t just that. We’ve stepped up extra support in these first two weeks in Government.
“We’ve also confirmed the commitment of extra military aid funding this year and for every year for the rest of the decade. As long as it takes.”
He added: “When Keir Starmer said Britain will continue our steadfast support for Ukraine he meant it.”
Pictured: Starmer gets hands-on with Zelensky and Europe’s leaders
Touchy-feely Starmer’s power grabs
Volodymyr Zelensky – Blenheim Palace
The Ukrainian president got the full tactile treatment at the European Political Community summit at Blenheim Palace on Thursday
UK to spearhead crackdown on Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’
Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, is expected to tell President Zelensky on Friday that the UK will go further to place a greater stranglehold on Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
In an effort led by the UK, 44 European countries and the EU agreed to work together to tackle the use of illegitimate vessels that threaten waterways, on Thursday at the European Political Community summit.
“The shadow fleet is made up of around 600 vessels and represents approximately 10 per cent of the global ‘wet cargo’ fleet,” Downing Street said in a statement.
It added: “It carries approximately 1.7 million barrels of oil per day, according to the UK, generating significant funds to fuel Russia’s war machine.”
Some of the ships are also alleged to double as Russian listening stations, while others are believed to be transporting weaponry to Russia.
Zelensky to be first foreign leader to address Cabinet since 1997
President Zelensky will be hosted by the Prime Minister at an unprecedented meeting of the Cabinet.
The Ukrainian leader, who will be the first official visitor to Downing Street during Sir Keir’s tenure, is expected to brief the new Cabinet about the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine and the need to ramp up Europe’s defence industrial base to outpace the Russian threat.
The last foreign leader to address the Cabinet in person was Bill Clinton, the US president, in 1997.
Mr Zelensky is also set to sign a £3.5bn defence export finance deal with Sir Keir.
Zelensky: Where are the F-16s?
President Volodymyr Zelensky once again thanked his western allies for their pledges to supply F-16 fighter jets, but questioned why they still had not arrived.
“It’s been 18 months and the planes have not reached us,” Mr Zelensky complained to the BBC.
The planes, he said, were essential to help Ukrainians resist Russia’s aerial dominance, protecting his cities and civilians and “unblock the skies”.
The Ukrainian leader confirmed this week that the first batch of the F-16s should arrive in Ukraine by this summer, with the second due to arrive by the end of the year.
We should hope and expect from now on to see some high value targets get smashed by Storm Shadows inside putlerstan.
Starmer’s start in his new position was like falling down flat on his face by first giving Ukraine permission to strike mafia land, then revoking this permission. Are there any politicians left with integrity and spine?
As I understand it, this happened before: Lord Cameron gave full permission for Storms to be deployed wherever Ukraine needed to. Only for the MOD to say it was “more nuanced.”
Now Starmer repeated Dave Cammer’s position, only to be again walked back by the MOD.
Situation now is that Ukraine CAN use storms in putlerstan, but not on deep targets. In other words, the UK has been forced to modify its “strike inside russia”policy to match that of the Biden administration.
In terms of the “special relationship”, the UK remains the junior partner.
I wish even one Western country would finally find its courage to do what’s right. Not only a little here and a little there, but all across the board. I realize that most likely it won’t happen in our lifetimes.
To quote Zel:
“The United Kingdom was the first country in Europe to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons, tanks, and long-range weapons…”
Probably without Boris giving Biden a nudge, Kyiv would have been lost and Ukraine finished.
The UK is able to take actions “pour encourager les autres” quite effectively, but it just is not powerful enough to overrule a US President once he’s taken a position.
To quote a classic example, an Egyptian putler prototype; Gamal Nasser, nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956. The UK and France launched a joint military operation to retake it, only for the US to threaten war. Against us not Nasser!