UK’s Starmer arrives in Ukraine for security talks with a pledge for a ‘100-year partnership’

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, is greeted by Ukrainian officials and the British ambassador to Ukraine Martin Harris, second right, in Kyiv, Ukraine, yesterday

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Ukraine’s capital yesterday with a pledge to help guarantee the country’s security for a century, days before Donald Trump is sworn in as U.S. president.

The British government says Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will sign a “100-Year Partnership” treaty in Kyiv covering areas including defense, science, energy and trade.

Starmer’s unannounced visit is his first trip to Ukraine since he took office in July. He visited the country in 2023 when he was opposition leader, and has twice held talks with Zelenskyy in London since becoming prime minister.

On a gray and frosty morning, Starmer was greeted at Kyiv railway station by the U.K. ambassador to Ukraine, Martin Harris, and Ukraine’s envoy to London, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

The U.K., one of Ukraine’s biggest military backers, has pledged 12.8 billion pounds ($16 billion) in military and civilian aid since Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago, and has trained more than 50,000 Ukrainian troops on British soil.

Starmer is to announce another 40 million pounds ($49 million) for Ukraine’s postwar economic recovery.

But the U.K.’s role is dwarfed by that of the United States, and there is deep uncertainty over the fate of American support for Ukraine once Trump takes office on Jan. 20. The president-elect has balked at the cost of U.S. aid to Kyiv, says he wants to bring the war to a swift end and is planning to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, for whom he has long expressed admiration.

Kyiv’s allies have rushed to flood Ukraine with as much support as possible before Trump’s inauguration, with the aim of putting Ukraine in the strongest position possible for any future negotiations to end the war.

Zelenskyy has said that in any peace negotiation, Ukraine would need assurances about its future protection from its much bigger neighbor.

Britain says its 100-year pledge is part of that assurance and will help ensure Ukraine is “never again vulnerable to the kind of brutality inflicted on it by Russia,” which seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and attempted a full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The deal commits the two sides to cooperate on defense — especially maritime security against Russian activity in the Batlic Sea, Black Sea and Sea of Azov — and on technology projects including drones, which have become vital weapons for both sides in the war.

The treaty also includes a system to help track stolen Ukrainian grain exported by Russia from occupied parts of the country.

“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,” Starmer said ahead of the visit.

“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.” JILL LAWLESS, KYIV, MDT/AP