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Zelensky visits No 10 to lobby Starmer for greater support for Ukraine

By Stephen Price
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during a bilateral meeting in 10 Downing Street, London. Image: Henry Nicholls/PA Wire

Volodymyr Zelensky has visited 10 Downing Street for talks with Sir Keir Starmer as he tours European nations seeking greater military support for Ukraine’s resistance against Russia.

The Ukrainian president and the Prime Minister embraced outside No 10 before a series of talks which will also involve Nato’s new secretary-general Mark Rutte.

The visit was Mr Zelensky’s second trip to Number 10 since Sir Keir came to power after he addressed an extraordinary meeting of the Cabinet in July.

The Ukrainian leader and the Prime Minister met most recently at the United Nations in New York a fortnight ago.

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Plan

Mr Zelensky has been presenting his “victory plan” to Western leaders as he lobbies for greater military assistance, such as permission to use equipment including UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles to hit targets within Russia.

Welcoming Mr Zelensky in No 10’s Pillared Room, Sir Keir said it was “very important we’re able to show our continued commitment to support Ukraine” and it was a chance to “go through the plan, to talk in more detail”.

The pair then held private talks in the Small Dining Room before conversations involving their wider teams.

Defence Secretary John Healey, Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin and National Security Adviser Sir Tim Barrow were among the senior figures involved in the meeting with the Ukrainians.

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Crucial period

Ahead of Thursday’s visit, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the meeting with Mr Zelensky would involve “broad strategic discussions” on UK and allied support for Ukraine during a “crucial period”, rather than specific decisions.

But the Ukrainian leader is likely to once again press for permission to use long-range Storm Shadow missiles to strike the airbases used to launch attacks on his country, as well as other key Russian targets.

The UK and US have so far stopped short of explicitly giving Kyiv permission to fire Western-supplied missiles at targets within Vladimir Putin’s country over concerns about further escalating the conflict, but Mr Zelensky has likened his position to having to fight with his hands tied.

Downing Street said on Wednesday that the UK’s position on using Storm Shadow had not changed.

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4 comments

Jeff

Unlock all weapons use. It s mad that putin is allowed to murder all across Ukraine and Ukraine are not allowed to hit back with all systems. Putin is not stopping at Ukraine.

Reply
John Ellis

I broadly agree with you. But from what I've ultimately been able to pick up from the confusingly variable statements emanating from different western politicians, the underlying problem lies in the fact that the most powerful long-distance missile which the Ukrainians would like to use against more distant Russian military bases is dependent for precise targeting on a computer guidance system which is housed in the USA. So there's an anxiety around a risk of giving any arguable solid evidential substance to the repeated Russian claim that NATO is already a direct participant in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Reply
Jeff

I understood that as well, but putin has already used chemical weapons in the UK. He is already at war, using other means at the moment. Call his bluff. He doesn't have the military to do much now. But he (Zelenski) has a short window before the US election, after that, if Trump wins then Ukraine is handed to putin on a plate. And putin has trump in his back pocket, I really hope Starmer turns off the intelligence taps if t the gop get in cos it will be in russia before the ink is dry.

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In reply to Jeff

John Ellis

Hard to dispute the basic argument which you're offering; it absolutely does seem to me that the Russian incursion into eastern Ukraine bears a highly uncomfortable resemblance to Nazi Germany's annexation of Sudetenland in 1938 on the grounds that, though part of Czechoslovakia, it was very considerably inhabited by first language German speakers. But nevertheless I do understand the fear in the west around any appearance of NATO being a direct participant in the conflict in Ukraine, simply because it so readily feeds Putin's propaganda narrative. All the more so, perhaps, because of the overt NATO intervention in the conflicts resulting from the disintegration of Yugoslavia, back in the '90s following the death of Josip Tito. Central to the establishment of NATO in the late 1940s was the assertion that it was a wholly defensive voluntary alliance of nation states with no aggressive agenda. However NATO opted to intervene militarily in the conflict in the aftermath of the disintegration of Yugoslavia; first against violent Serb aggression against non-Serb populations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and subsequently in defence of Kosovan Albanians against Serbian violence - even though neither the former Yugoslavia nor any of the newly independent states which emerged from that disintegration had become members of the NATO alliance. And inevitably, however sadly, that hard fact has surely fed into Putin's morose and morbid estimate of 'the West' and its presumed hostility to his mystical 'mother Russia'. The lesson, surely, is that history matters in international affairs.

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Replying to Jeff Cancel

Unlock all weapons use. It s mad that putin is allowed to murder all across Ukraine and Ukraine are not allowed to hit back with all systems. Putin is not stopping at Ukraine.

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