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Sir Keir Starmer said allies had agreed a ‘clear plan for the rest of the year’ on supporting Ukraine
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Sir Keir Starmer has said “Ukraine’s future is our future” as he announced new plans to support the country in its fight against Russia.
Volodymyr Zelensky and the prime minister met with world leaders in the “coalition of the willing” on Friday afternoon in an effort to push for long range missiles that can strike deep inside Russia.
Speaking at a press conference after the summit, Starmer said the group also discussed ways of helping protect Ukraine’s power grid from Russia’s almost daily drone and missiles attacks as winter approaches.
Zelensky added Russia would aim to use the cold winter as a tool to pressure Kyiv.
The Ukrainian leader was met with a ceremonial welcome in Windsor earlier on Friday as he greeted King Charles.
It comes after US President Donald Trump said he was reluctant to provide Kyiv with the Tomahawk missiles in exchange for Ukrainian drones when the leaders met at the White House last week.
The EU also failed to agree a deal to back Ukraine with the help of frozen Russian assets valued at €140bn ($163.2bn).
Caitlin Doherty reports…
Russia is “running out of money troops and ideas” in its war with Ukraine, the head of Nato has said.
Speaking in London following a meeting of the coalition of the willing, Mark Rutte called on nations to impose further oil sanctions, and said this would “starve them of revenue and significantly increase the pressure on Putin”.
Describing Russia’s refusal to engage in ceasefire talks as “Putin’s deluded aggression”, Mr Rutte said: “The truth is that Putin is running out of money, troops and ideas.”
He was speaking at a five-way press conference following a coalition of the willing meeting, in which Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said that “Russia’s goal has not changed.
“They want to break us, they want to break Ukraine. They are doing everything to achieve it,” he said.
Sir Keir Starmer said allies had agreed a “clear plan for the rest of the year” on supporting Ukraine, including the announcement the UK would accelerate its missiles production programme.
Speaking after the call at the Foreign Office in London, the Prime Minister said: “First, we will act to take Russian oil and gas off the global market.
“Last week, the UK became the first country to sanction all of Russia’s oil majors. On Wednesday, the US acted decisively to join us together with further sanctions from the EU and we’re choking off funding for Russia’s war machine.
“I’m urging others to take these steps too, to go further to reduce their dependencies and incentivise third countries to stop buying these tainted resources.
“Second, we’re determined to push on with the progress on Russia’s sovereign assets and unlock billions to help finance Ukraine’s defence.
“The bill for Russia’s destruction in Ukraine should be paid by Russia. So, we want to move ahead at speed with the work needed to deliver reparation loans and get the funds flowing to Ukraine.
“Third, we are strengthening Ukraine’s air defence to protect its civilians and its energy infrastructure.
“I announced today that we’re accelerating our UK programme to provide Ukraine with more than 5,000 lightweight multirole missiles, creating 200 jobs and supporting 700 existing roles at Thales in Belfast.”
President Zelensky has said Kyiv want to use long-range missiles to strike Russians on their own land – something he says Russia continuously does to Ukraine.
“That is why we are working to secure Tomahawk missiles,” he said, before thanking Starmer for today’s meeting.
He added Russia wanted to use the cold winter to pressure Ukraine.
Caitlin Doherty reports…
Speaking in London following a meeting of the coalition of the willing, the Prime Minister said: “Ukraine’s future is our future, what happens in the weeks and months ahead is pivotal for the security of the United Kingdom”, as well as across Nato.
He was speaking ahead of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky who has been in the UK for the meeting on Friday.
Caitlin Doherty reports…
Sir Keir Starmer has opened this afternoon’s press conference paying tribute to Ukraine.
He also referenced the sentencing of five men for their roles in an arson attack in London that authorities say was masterminded by Russian intelligence.
“It underlines the point – your security is our security,” he said.
He added that leaders are “united with President Trump in calling for the fighting to stop now”.
Speaking in London following a meeting of the coalition of the willing, the prime minister said that they stand with Ukraine and “united with President Trump in calling for the fighting to stop now”.
A press conference following key talks between the “coalition of the willing” is expected to get underway shortly.
Among the issues believed to be on the agenda is the provision of long-range missiles to Ukraine, and use of Russian assets to bolster Ukraine.
We will be bringing you the latest as it happens…
Sir Keir Starmer said Vladimir Putin’s “ludicrous demands” to take Ukrainian land were “a non-starter” and insisted the “coalition of the willing” and the US were “more united than ever before”.
Ahead of this afternoon’s meeting of the “coalition of the willing” he said: “I’m really pleased to say that we’ve got a group now of more than 30 nations who have been unwavering in our support for Ukraine and a just and lasting peace.
“I would say that today we are more united in that than ever before.
“United as a group of countries in the coalition of the willing, united with president Trump in our calls to end the bloodshed.”
He added: “Putin continues to meet initiatives for peace by stonewalling and playing for time … instead he’s making ludicrous demands for Ukrainian land which he could not take by force.
“Now, of course, that is a non-starter.”
The Prime Minister was joined in person by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Danish premier Mette Frederiksen, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte as he co-hosted the call from the Foreign Office on Friday.
Nato has been forced to scramble jets in response to Russian violations of Lithuania’s airspace.
Two Russian military aircraft, an Su-30 fighter jet and an II-78 refuelling tanker, flew over the Nato member state on Thursday for approximately 18 seconds, prompting a formal reaction from the alliance. They were possibly on a refuelling training mission when they flew 700m (0.43 miles) at 1500 GMT, the military said.
You can read more below…
The coalition of some 30 countries who have pledged to protect Ukraine’s security was announced by Sir Keir at the start of March, following a summit on Ukraine.
The group is led by Sir Keir and Mr Macron alongside Mr Zelensky.
The world leaders include:
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