PM will use independence day trip to announce sharing of classified information about Storm Shadow components
Britain will boost Ukraine’s capacity to make its own long-range missiles, Andy Burnham will announce on Monday, as he travels to Kyiv for the country’s independence day on his first foreign visit as prime minister.
Burnham will arrive in the Ukrainian capital on Monday morning at a crucial time in the war, with Kyiv braced for another wave of Russian missile attacks and the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, facing his most direct domestic challenge.
The UK prime minister will use the trip to announce that the UK government will allow the European defence company MBDA to declassify information about UK-made components of the Anglo-French Storm Shadow/Scalp missiles to help Ukraine build its own version.
While the announcement will probably take years to have an impact on the war, it is likely to escalate tensions with Moscow at an already fraught moment in UK-Russian relations.
Burnham said in a statement on Sunday night: “On Ukraine’s 35th anniversary of independence, the Ukrainian people should be in no doubt: the UK is behind you today and for as long as it takes.
“I am proud of the contribution our country has made to Ukraine and I want the Ukrainian people to hear it directly from me that our support will not waver. After all, Ukraine’s security is our security.
“The friendship between our two countries will long outlast Russia’s illegal war. In both the fight and in the rebuilding to come, we will stand with Ukraine and deliver opportunities for people across both our countries.
“Russia should be in no doubt of our resolve. We will not back down until there is a just and lasting peace.”
Burnham will announce in Kyiv that the UK will help France set up assembly lines in Ukraine for long-range missiles, which the French president, Emmanuel Macron, promised last month.
Macron spoke to Zelenskyy on Saturday to promise to deliver separate interceptor missiles, which could help counter the recent barrage of high-speed Russian missile attacks on Kyiv.
Meanwhile, European leaders have condemned Friday’s drone attack on a busy shopping centre in central Ukraine, which killed 16 people in Zelenskyy’s home town of Kryvyi Rih.
The Ukrainian military has run out of US-made Patriot interceptors, and the US president, Donald Trump, recently backtracked on a promise to let Ukraine build its own.
However, Zelenskyy said over the weekend he still wanted to buy more US-made Patriots, adding that Ukraine was happy to pay for them rather than receive them as military aid. “I wanted to secure 300 Patriot missiles for the winter package,” he said. “The request from our air force is 360.”
He added that he had reached an agreement with France on at least one air-defence system this year, and with Germany on the supply of about 600 interceptors in 2027-28.