Team News Riveting
London, May 15
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday morning arrived in the United Kingdom (UK), Ukraine’s second most generous ally, for a meeting with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that yielded the promise of “hundreds” more missiles and drones for the country battling Russia.
The visit to London follows Zelensky’s trips to Italy, Germany and France. On arrival, Zelensky tweeted that “the UK is a leader when it comes to expanding our capabilities on the ground and in the air. This cooperation will continue today.” “I will meet my friend Rishi. We will conduct substantive negotiations face-to-face and in delegations,” he said.
A statement released by No. 10 Downing Street said, “The Prime Minister will confirm the further UK provision of hundreds of air defense missiles and further unmanned aerial systems including hundreds of new long-range attack drones with a range of over 200 kilometers.” “These will all be delivered over the coming months as Ukraine prepares to intensify its resistance to the ongoing Russian invasion,” the official statement continued.
“We must not let them [Ukraine] down,” the Prime Minister said in the statement. He added it was “a crucial moment” in Ukraine’s war effort – a potential reference to the pending Ukrainian counter-offensive against Russian forces occupying Ukrainian territory.
“The front lines of Putin’s war of aggression may be in Ukraine, but the fault lines stretch all over the world. It is in all our interest to ensure Ukraine succeeds and Putin’s barbarism is not rewarded,” Sunak, who has visited Ukraine, said.
In an unexpected move late last week, after many Western countries had proved reluctant to provide Ukraine with long-range weapons, the UK’s Defense Secretary, Ben Wallace, confirmed donation of long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine in a statement to Parliament.
As noted by Kyiv Post, the ‘export’ version of the missile has a 300 km range and has been modified to allow it to operate from Ukraine’s existing fleet of former-Soviet aircraft without further adjustment. It uses GPS, terrain mapping and other sensors to deliver the 450kg, two stage ‘Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented Charge’ (BROACH) warhead onto the target.
Zelensky’s trip to the UK is the fourth stop on a European tour that included meetings in Rome, the Holy See, Berlin and Paris.
