Starmer travels to Ukraine to sign partnership deal lasting ‘for generations’
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has been a “monumental strategic failure”, Sir Keir Starmer said as he travelled to the country to sign a new long-term partnership deal with Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Prime Minister was greeted at Kyiv railway station by the UK’s ambassador to Ukraine Martin Harris and Ukraine’s envoy to London, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, in the country’s capital.
The 100 Year Partnership includes defence and scientific collaboration but will also forge new community links between the UK and Ukraine.
The agreement will bolster military collaboration on maritime security and will bring together experts in areas including drone technology.
“Backfired”
The Prime Minister, visiting Ukraine for the first time since entering No 10, said the deal showed Mr Putin’s attempts to pull Ukraine away from the West had backfired.
The visit comes just days before Donald Trump enters the White House, potentially signalling a shift in US support for Ukraine’s war effort in favour of a push for a peace deal.
The US President-elect’s pick for secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said on Wednesday that both the Ukraine and Russia would have to make concessions to end the war.
He said it was important to be “realistic” that “there will have to be concessions made by the Russian Federation, but also by the Ukrainians”.
Sir Keir is expected to use the Ukraine trip to announce new UK support including further military aid and economic support.
Ahead of the visit, Mr Zelensky had suggested he would use the meeting to discuss the prospect of British troops being deployed to Ukraine as peacekeepers following any ceasefire deal with the Kremlin.
The Prime Minister said: “Putin’s ambition to wrench Ukraine away from its closest partners has been a monumental strategic failure.
“Instead, we are closer than ever and this partnership will take that friendship to the next level.
“This is not just about the here and now, it is also about an investment in our two countries for the next century, bringing together technology development, scientific advances and cultural exchanges and harnessing the phenomenal innovation shown by Ukraine in recent years for generations to come.
“The power of our long-term friendships cannot be underestimated. Supporting Ukraine to defend itself from Russia’s barbaric invasion and rebuild a prosperous, sovereign future is vital to this Government’s foundation of security and our plan for change.
“Through this partnership we are creating a strong economy that works for the British people, a safe country that protects our interests at home and abroad and a prosperous society.”
Plans
Plans for the long-term partnership had begun under the Conservative administration.
The partnership, formed of a treaty and a political declaration, will be laid in Parliament in the coming weeks and spans nine key pillars.
It will involve co-operation in areas including healthcare and tackling disease, agricultural technology and the space industry.
Ties between the two countries will also be strengthened through cultural exchanges and classroom projects.
Sir Keir is expected to announce new “lethal aid” and £40 million for an economic recovery programme intended to unlock hundreds of millions of pounds of private lending for Ukraine’s small and medium-sized firms.
Officials hope the scheme will open up business opportunities for UK companies, with the funding targeted at the green economy and marginalised groups including women and veterans.
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Just in time.
Rubio will sell out, it is why he is in trumps cabinet. The trick will be getting what Ukraine wants and not what putin wants vis Trump.
Biden’s statement that an oligarchy is coming to the US in a short while is bang on the money.
“Oligarchy is coming…” I’d say it’s been there a long time. Eisenhower saw it coming in embryonic form, it surged with JFK assassination and got its shots of steroids with 1st Gulf War followed by Iraq and Afghan wars which did nothing other than fill the coffers of the Oil/Gas and Weapons/Defence/Aerospace corporates. Later arrivals at the top table include the infamous monsters from IT and media including Musk, Suckerberg and the net zero darling Gates. I include the latter because he is regarded as a bit of a cult hero among blinkered types but he’s as big a threat… Read more »
Not sure you are paying attention.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1weqzl3ydro
Been paying attention for years and just amazed that these monsters have been allowed to get so powerful. It’s not just Musk although he’s now getting loads of attention ( which suits his egotistic narcissistic personality) but all those others who think they have divine right to just declare how things must be done. At his age Biden probably saw it coming too and may have profitted from it at times as some of his back history is opaque. Anyway he’s finally piped up but anyone who thinks this is news have had their heads sunk somewhere deep and dark… Read more »
An alternative measure of time is action/no action, we seem to be heading for warp speed over the next few years…’geopolitical tectonics for dummies’ just our luck…
Surely a better move would be to work towards a peaceful settlement between Russia and Ukraine. Starmer is proving to be quite the warmonger
That certainly would be good, but from what I have read it is unlikely that Putin will agree to a just peace until the Ukranians are clearly winning this war. They need more support as they are not yet clearly winning. Sadly it looks as if the UK’s economic revival may emerge from a re-armament programme rather than a green zero carbon programme. Funny how there is always money for armaments but not for green investment.
Investment in Warfare and much of the green investment are both wasteful. If we need a “net zero” it should be a goal in arresting conflict. The reduced spending could be redeployed into green investments that produces lasting results instead of the current fashion for exploitation and posturing.
Defending your country is not warmongering. The warmonger here is Putin. If concessions are made to Russia then what happens if Trump demand similar concessions regarding Greenland or Panama. Where does that end?
If only Starmer paid as much time and attention on matters relating to his UK Voters as he does swanning off to put his nose into foreign affairs , who is paying him? who pulls his strings? He shows every sign of having little time for the British, and a lot of time giving away our cash and assets to just about anywhere else. He must really loathe us!
He is a player of the ‘Great Game’, a rivalry between Britain and Russia over influence in Central Asia that is five years from its bi-centenary…
Wargamers the world over will be painting and drilling their Airfix soldiers…