The UK and Ukraine have signed a “100-year partnership” agreement during a visit to Kyiv by the British prime minister, Keir Starmer.
The accord between the two countries provides for enhanced military cooperation aimed at bolstering security, particularly in the Baltic and Black seas and the Sea of Azov.
The treaty also covers areas as diverse as energy, healthcare, agriculture, space exploration, and greater industrial and cultural ties.
"Today is a truly historic day,” Ukrainian state news service Ukrinform quoted Zelenskyy as saying. “Relations between Ukraine and the United Kingdom are closer than ever. We have reached a new level — this is more than a strategic partnership.”
Starmer posted on the X platform that Britain would be with Ukraine “not just today or tomorrow, for this year or the next, but for a hundred years, long after this terrible war is over and Ukraine is free and thriving once again.”
The partnership agreement builds on a security cooperation deal signed last year during a visit to Kyiv by then prime minister Rishi Sunak.
The treaty also covers areas as diverse as energy, healthcare, agriculture, space exploration, and greater industrial and cultural ties.
"Today is a truly historic day,” Ukrainian state news service Ukrinform quoted Zelenskyy as saying. “Relations between Ukraine and the United Kingdom are closer than ever. We have reached a new level — this is more than a strategic partnership.”
Starmer posted on the X platform that Britain would be with Ukraine “not just today or tomorrow, for this year or the next, but for a hundred years, long after this terrible war is over and Ukraine is free and thriving once again.”
The partnership agreement builds on a security cooperation deal signed last year during a visit to Kyiv by then prime minister Rishi Sunak.
Security guarantees
Starmer’s talks with Zelenskyy on Thursday took place amid a Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian capital, which the British premier described as a “reminder of the daily attacks and the resolve of the Ukrainian people in the face of it.”
The meeting included discussion of possible security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a peace deal being agreed with Moscow. Starmer said at a joint press conference with Zelenskyy that London would work with Kyiv “and all of our allies on steps that would be robust enough to guarantee Ukraine's security," Reuters reported.
The talks also touched on the possibility of NATO countries providing peacekeeping forces if a ceasefire deal is reached with Moscow.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron has touted the prospect of French troops being stationed in Ukraine to enforce a deal. Reuters cited Zelenskyy as saying he had spoken to France, Poland and the Baltic states about the possibility of peacekeepers to deter further aggression by Russia.
The UK’s Daily Telegraph reported that London and Paris have discussed the possibility of British and French troops being deployed to Ukraine, but quoted Zelenskyy as saying it is “a bit too early to talk about details.”
More military support
Starmer vowed to give Ukraine “more military support than ever before,” the Telegraph added.
“We have already committed £3 billion (€3.56 billion) for military aid this year and we’re going further to support the front line, providing a £2.2 billion (€2.61 billion) loan which will be paid back not by Ukraine, but from the interest on frozen Russian assets,” the paper quoted the prime minister as saying.
Starmer also announced that the UK would provide Ukraine with a new mobile air-defense system and that Sheffield Forgemasters, a British specialist steel producer, would provide Kyiv with 150 artillery barrels in the coming weeks.
Starmer's visit took place two days after a similar trip by Germany’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, as European leaders consider what security guarantees they can offer as part of any peace agreement. Hopes of peace talks have been boosted by the imminent inauguration of Donald Trump, who will be sworn in as U.S. president on Monday.
More In Politics MORE...
