Zelenskyy Renews Calls for Long-Range Missiles and Attends UK Cabinet

ZELENSKYY Asks UK for Long-Range MISSILES

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, spoke to ministers in the British government on Friday. This was a rare foreign leader’s attendance at a cabinet meeting, and Keir Starmer, the incoming prime minister, hoped it would highlight London’s support for Kyiv.

 

Zelenskyy was invited to meet his cabinet of top ministers by Starmer, who continued his push to elevate Britain’s stature in international affairs a day after holding a forum of European leaders at Blenheim Palace. According to Starmer’s office, U.S. President Bill Clinton did it the last time a foreign leader did it in 1997.

 

 

Zelenskyy, who was greeted with a standing ovation and cheers from British politicians upon his arrival, reiterated his demand that the West permit long-range strikes against Russia, stating that Britain needs to work with its friends to lift the restrictions on their use.

 

 

“At the outset of this meeting in Downing Street, Zelenskyy stated that we are currently lacking our long-range capability, which is the main answer to this question.” “Please convince the other partners to remove the limits.”

Different strategies have been employed by NATO nations regarding Ukraine’s usage of donated weaponry. While the United States has adopted a more restrained stance, permitting its weapons to be used only slightly within Russia’s border against targets supporting Russian military actions in Ukraine, some have made it plain that Kyiv can use them to hit targets inside Russia.

 

Prior to a longer bilateral meeting with officials, Starmer had a private meeting with Zelenskyy during which he assured him that Britain will expedite the delivery of help to Ukraine.

 

Earlier this month, his minister of defense declared that the supplies the previous Conservative government had promised would arrive in a hundred days.

 

Before the meeting, Starmer had released a statement saying, “President Zelenskyy will make a historic address to my cabinet because Ukraine is, and always will be, at the heart of this government’s agenda.”

 

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Britain has been an outspoken supporter of the country. Following his overwhelming victory in an election earlier this month, Starmer quickly reaffirmed London’s commitment to Kyiv, telling Zelenskyy at NATO that there would be “no change of approach” despite the change of government.

 

He declared on Thursday that Britain would try a fresh strategy to thwart Russia’s efforts to get under maritime sanctions. Britain imposed sanctions on 11 ships that carried Russian oil on Thursday.

 

In order to strengthen the defense industrial bases and increase the output of both nations, he also revealed the Defence Export Support Treaty, which will be signed by defense ministers and allow Ukraine to access export financing worth 3.5 billion pounds ($4.5 billion). 

$1 equals 0.7708 pounds.