Britain promised the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, long-range attack drones when he visited the country today as part of a European tour aimed at securing new weapons for a counteroffensive against Russia.
Zelenskiy met prime minister Rishi Sunak at the British leader’s Chequers country residence, where the pair also discussed Ukraine’s request for western fighter jets.
Britain said it would begin basic training of Ukrainian pilots this summer “hand in hand with UK efforts to work with other countries on providing F-16 jets”.
Sunak said Britain would provide Ukraine with hundreds of air defence missiles and further unmanned aerial systems, including new long-range attack drones with a range of more than 200km, to be delivered over the coming months. It remains unclear exactly what type of drones the announcement referred to.UK will soon be ready to train Ukrainian pilots, says Rishi Sunak – video
Sunak’s spokesperson confirmed again that Britain had no plans to send fighter jets directly to Ukraine.
The Ukrainians made the decision to train their pilots on F-16s and you will know the RAF don’t use those,” he said.
In response, the Kremlin said Russia takes an “extremely negative” view of Britain’s decision to supply Ukraine with more military hardware but does not believe London’s help will change the course of the conflict.
Sunak said:
The conflict is at a pivotal moment. The UK will remain steadfast in supporting Ukraine and its people to defend itself … it is important for the Kremlin to also know that we are not going away. We are here for the long term.