Relations between Ukraine and the United Kingdom have cooled significantly since the change of government in London in July this year, The Guardian reports.
Ukrainian officials interviewed by the journalists expressed their disappointment that after the appointment of new Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Britain did not provide additional Storm Shadow missiles. Starmer has not yet visited Ukraine, and, according to Kyiv, such a visit would be appropriate only if a new batch of missiles were delivered.
Ukraine’s main complaint is that the UK has not provided additional Storm Shadow missiles from its stockpile, even to hit targets in Crimea and other Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia since 2014.
‘This is not happening. Starmer is not giving us long-range weapons. The situation is not the same as when Rishi Sunak was prime minister. Relations have deteriorated,’ said a representative of Zelenskyy’s office.
The Guardian recalls that Sunak visited Kyiv in November 2022 just a month after his appointment, while Boris Johnson visited the Ukrainian capital several times.
The newspaper also reports that the Ukrainian military launched the last Storm Shadow strike on 5 October against Russian command posts.
On Thursday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Starmer at the European summit in Budapest, but the meeting, according to Ukrainian sources, did not bring any concrete results.
‘Since August, we have been discussing a possible visit by Starmer. Different dates came and went. Starmer postponed it several times. It makes no sense for him to come as a tourist. At the moment, he is unwilling to make the necessary decisions,’ the source said.
In addition, Kyiv expresses its dissatisfaction with the ban on the use of British missiles already available to the Armed Forces of Ukraine to strike at Russian territory, which is still in force. The British side also reacted with restraint to the ‘victory plan’ that Zelenskyy presented to his partners this autumn.
According to Ukrainian officials, Starmer is in no hurry to make strategic decisions until he receives support from Washington, although Britain has the ability to act independently.
