Zelensky has arrived in Downing Street on his first stop of a Europe-wide tour. He gets a hug from Starmer. NATO secretary general Mark Rutte is also there for his first visit to the UK in the new gig…
There’s no word from No 10 on whether Storm Shadow missiles will be discussed – only reassurances that Britain’s support for Ukraine is “iron-clad.“ Seeing as the point of Zelensky’s tour is to drum up support for more weapons, you’d hope it would be…
The kind of support Zelenskyy really needs, obviously…
In a big boost for Ukraine, the UK is set to provide an additional £600 million in support, with a significant portion dedicated to bolstering the country’s energy infrastructure following deliberate Russian strikes. Hopefully this will help “win the peace”…
Of this hefty sum, at least £242 million will be dispatched directly to Ukraine. This figure was confirmed by Labour following its initial reveal by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier this summer. Zelensky’s still pushing for the UK to make a “strong decision” by letting him use long-range missiles though…
Ukraine. Our land. Given by God. Kissed by the sun. Rocked by the winds. Tempered by fire. Defended by its sons and daughters.
It cannot be mistaken for anything else.
It can never be given away to anyone.
Happy Independence Day of Ukraine! pic.twitter.com/LwnRAjnZnc— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 24, 2024
Starmer has generally made a decent effort at holding back the nuts pro-Kremlin wing of his own party – and has so far navigated an apparently supportive policy on Ukraine. Over the weekend, however, Volodymyr Zelensky swiped hard at Starmer – saying British support was “slowing down”…
The Ukranian leader said:
“Unfortunately, the situation has slowed down recently… we will discuss how to fix this because long-range capabilities are vital for us. The whole world sees how effective Ukrainians are – how our entire nation defends its independence…”
Starmer has refused to allow UK manufactured Storm Shadow missiles (with a range of 190 miles) to be used inside Russian territory for offensive purposes during the latest series of Ukrainian incursions. UK kit like the Challenger 2 tank has, however, been used on Russian soil…
In order to unlock the use of the decisive weaponry, both the UK, France and the US must sign off on the plan. The White House yesterday denied reports that the US was blocking an ask from the UK for the use of the missiles to be approved, saying no such request had been made. So Starmer has not picked up the phone to Biden about it – why the delay?
As Ukraine continues its incursion into Russian territory, Belgorod’s governor Vyacheslav Gladkov has just declared “a state of emergency will be introduced on the regional level, followed by a request to the governmental commission to declare a federal state of emergency“. Border areas are being evacuated in the face of Ukrainian attacks…
Putin has withdrawn troops from Ukraine to deal with the incursion and tasked an old bodyguard of his with repelling it. This is first time foreign troops have entered Russia since the Second World War, taking 386 square miles of it. Stop The War will be pulling its hair out by now…
