Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has addressed British government ministers, a rare appearance by a foreign head of state at a cabinet meeting that new Prime Minister Keir Starmer hopes will underline London's support for Kyiv.
A day after hosting a forum of European leaders at Blenheim Palace, Starmer continued his attempt to elevate Britain's role in international affairs by inviting Zelensky to address his cabinet of top ministers.
The last foreign head of state to do so was US President Bill Clinton in 1997, Starmer's office said.
Zelensky renewed his appeal to Western allies to allow long-range strikes against Russia. Britain said it should try to persuade its partners to lift restrictions on their use, saying they have different views on how Ukraine could use the weapons they supply.
“At the moment we lack the most important answer to this question, and that is our long-range capability,” Zelensky said at the start of the meeting in Downing Street.
“Please convince the other partners to lift the restrictions.”
Starmer told Zelensky that Britain would speed up the delivery of vital aid to Ukraine after his defence minister said in early July that supplies promised by the former Conservative government would arrive within 100 days.
“Ukraine remains at the heart of this government's agenda and so it is only fitting that President Zelenskyy delivers a historic address to my Cabinet,” Starmer said in a statement ahead of the meeting.
Britain has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine since Russia's large-scale invasion in 2022, and Starmer was quick to reaffirm London's commitment to Kyiv following his landslide election victory earlier this month. On NATO, he told Zelensky that while there had been a change of government, there had been “no change of approach.”
He said on Thursday that Britain would pursue a new plan to thwart Russia's attempts to circumvent shipping sanctions.
On Thursday, Britain announced sanctions against eleven ships used to transport Russian oil.
New measures against Russia's so-called “shadow fleet” include a plan to share data on the network of often older tankers used to transport Russian oil in order to identify and take action against individual ships.
He also unveiled the Defence Export Support Agreement, which will enable Ukraine to access £3.5 billion in export finance to boost both countries' defence industries and increase production.
Starmer last week reiterated a commitment by his predecessor, Conservative Rishi Sunak, to provide Ukraine with three billion pounds (6.8 billion Australian dollars) in military support annually until 2030/31 and beyond if necessary.