Relations between Ukraine, UK Worse Under Labour

The UK prime minister is yet to visit Ukraine four months after taking office and a frustrated Kyiv has said that a trip would be worthless unless Keir Starmer committed to replenishing stocks of the sought-after long-range Storm Shadow system, Guardian reported.

“There’s no point in his coming as a tourist,” one senior figure in Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration said at a time when Ukraine is acutely concerned about the impact that Donald Trump’s US election victory will have on its war effort.

Ukraine is growing increasingly unhappy with London as Russian troops advance in the east of the country at their fastest rate since 2022, with US officials concluding that the frontlines can no longer be considered static. Ukrainian commanders said they were heavily outgunned.

At the same time, Trump’s election victory on Wednesday has raised concerns that the US could halt or slow military aid to Ukraine and force Kyiv to negotiate a humiliating peace with Russia.

Ukraine’s principal complaint with the UK is that it has not supplied any additional missiles from its Storm Shadow reserves.

The official said: “It isn’t happening. Starmer isn’t giving us long-range weapons. The situation is not the same as when Rishi Sunak was prime minister. The relationship has got worse.”