British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visited Kyiv on Friday to sign an additional security agreement and boost military funding for Ukraine to purchase surveillance, long-range strike and sea drones.
Sunak said that Britain, one of Ukraine’s closest allies during the Russian invasion, will increase its support by 200 million pounds to 2.5 billion pounds ($3.19 billion) in the upcoming fiscal year.
“Our opponents around the world believe that we have neither the patience nor resources for long wars. So waver now, and we embolden not just Putin but his allies in North Korea, Iran, and elsewhere,” Sunak stated at a press conference.
Particularly crucial for Kyiv is the timing of his visit. Two significant aid packages have experienced delays in the United States and the European Union as a result of political infighting.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed optimism at the press conference that crucial financial assistance from the United States would also materialize and that his mood was brighter.
The two leaders signed an “unprecedented security agreement” that Zelenskiy said would last until Kyiv joined NATO.
Since the February 2022 Russian invasion, Kyiv has been significantly dependent on Western military and financial assistance.
On Friday, Dmitry Medvedev, the former president of Russia, warned that Moscow would interpret any British military deployment to Ukraine as an open declaration of war against Russia.
