Keir Starmer has reaffirmed that the UK's "unwavering" support for Ukraine will continue, during his final visit to the country as Prime Minister.
Speaking in Kyiv alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Starmer announced £255 million ($384 million) in new UK funding, provided jointly with Sweden, to help deliver a squadron of 16 Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets to strengthen Ukraine's air defences. The package is also expected to support around 5,000 jobs in the UK defence industry.
He said those who view Ukraine as a burden are "plain wrong", arguing that the country's resistance against Russia has helped protect European security.
"Your fight is our fight, your security is our security, and the UK will not waver," Starmer told President Zelenskyy.
The Prime Minister said the "shift in momentum is real" and claimed Ukraine was now in its strongest position since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Starmer also highlighted the UK's role in developing Ukraine-related defence technology, saying British drone capabilities had grown from almost nothing into a world-leading industry over the past two years.
During his time in office, the UK committed billions of pounds in military support for Ukraine and signed a 100-year partnership with Kyiv aimed at strengthening defence, trade and long-term cooperation.
The visit comes on Starmer's final full day as Labour leader. Andy Burnham is due to formally take over as party leader on Friday, before being invited by King Charles III to form a government on Monday.
Asked whether Britain's support would continue under the next government, Starmer said the change in leadership would not affect the UK's commitment.
"The resolve of the UK will remain the same. We will not waver," he said.
President Zelenskyy awarded the outgoing British Prime Minister the Order of Freedom, Ukraine's highest honour available to a foreign national, in recognition of Britain's support during the war.
The visit came amid domestic political tensions in Ukraine following President Zelenskyy's decision, as part of a wider government reshuffle, to dismiss Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov after six months in the post.
The move triggered protests in Kyiv and several other Ukrainian cities, with demonstrators criticising the president over the departure of a minister widely credited with accelerating military and procurement reforms. Ukraine's parliament separately approved Serhii Koretskyi, former head of state energy company Naftogaz, as the country's new prime minister, replacing Yulia Svyrydenko.
Starmer's trip fell just hours after Russia launched an overnight ballistic missile attack on Kyiv, killing at least two people and injuring six others, including a teenager.
He was also taken to a residential area in Kyiv that local emergency services said had been hit by Russian strikes earlier this month.
Burnt-out vehicles lay scattered around a large apartment building that was directly struck in the attack, and he was shown a crater between a children's play area and a nearby residential block left by another strike.
Speaking to an elderly woman living close by, who told him through a translator that she'd had "no time to run away" and was "really terrified," he said it was "outrageous" to attack civilians in residential areas.
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