British support for Ukraine ‘will not waver’ with new PM, vows Starmer

Keir Starmer has said he believes Ukraine will win the war against Russia as he ended his final visit to the country while in office.

The outgoing UK prime minister met Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Thursday, just hours after a series of Russian strikes that killed two and injured six, including a teenager.

He also said that the UK’s support for Ukraine “will not waver” and the prime ministerial transition will not “change that dynamic”.

Speaking to Sky News during his last interview on the trip, Starmer said: ”I believe Ukraine will win this war.”

He added: “What they’ve shown is that it’s not just the size of your army, it’s how you fight a modern conflict.

“And so they are probably the most effective fighting machine in Europe.”

Starmer, asked if he had had assurances from his successor over continuing support for Ukraine, told the broadcaster: “I would not have said what I said to President Zelensky which is really important, if I wasn’t confident about what I was saying.”

He added: “I’m not somebody else’s spokesperson. I’m not telling somebody else what to do or offering advice.

“But this conflict is serious. This is about values of democracy and freedom, values that are really important to the British, and I would not have given assurance if I wasn’t 100% confident about it.”

Starmer’s visit came on his final full day as Labour leader.

Andy Burnham will take over the party leadership at a special conference in London on Friday before entering Downing Street on Monday.

That handover of power would not change the relationship between the two nations, Starmer said at a press conference at Zelenskiy’s official ceremonial residence.

He said: “The fact that there will be a new prime minister in the United Kingdom, in the days to come, doesn’t change that dynamic at all.

“The resolve of the United Kingdom remains the same, it will not waver.”

He added: “I say that with real confidence because it has not wavered since the outbreak of this conflict”, and noted there had been intra and cross-party unity on the issue and the “Ukrainian flag still flies above Downing Street”.

There was huge resolve across politics and among the public, as the conflict touched people’s lives in Britain, through rising costs and state-backed Russian aggression at home, Starmer said.

Asked whether he was disappointed that he would not see an end to the conflict before leaving No 10, Starmer told reporters: “This isn’t about me, it’s about a country, Ukraine, that has faced an aggressor for now in the fifth year.”

As the press conference got under way, Starmer looked touched as the Ukrainian leader surprised him with an Order of Freedom honour, the highest award for a foreign national and only ever given to 30 others, saying: “It really means a huge amount.”

Starmer also announced the €300 million funding to help deliver a squadron of 16 advanced Swedish Gripen jets to Ukraine by 2029.

The UK government said the programme would support about 5,000 jobs across more than 50 UK companies involved in the global Gripen supply chain, including Saab UK in Fareham, Hampshire, and Leonardo UK in Edinburgh.

The Gripen aircraft can be used for air-to-air combat, ground strikes and reconnaissance missions, and ministers said they would help modernise Ukraine’s air force and boost its capability to defend against Moscow’s unrelenting aerial attacks.

The two leaders “agreed that the increase in attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks was despicable,” according to a Downing Street read-out of their bilateral meeting, in which Starmer reiterated he was “certain” UK support for Ukraine would continue.

Zelenskiy, asked how five prime ministers since the war started has affected his relations with government, said that he had built “strong relations” with all of them.

He added that he hoped to build “new strong relations” with the next prime minister and that he wanted to have a meeting “as soon as possible”.

Zelenskiy, asked if he was concerned about changes of leadership in the UK, and in France next year, said: “Of course I’m afraid of changes, of course we are afraid because we are in the war each day.

“But again the priority is the relation between nations, not just between just people.

“I’m sure that these relations will not change, or we have to do our best not to lose such very good relations.”

He added: “I hope we will never lose strong relations with the UK during or after the war.”

Starmer replied: “You won’t.”

Earlier, after they visited Kyiv’s memorial wall, the Ukrainian president paid tribute to Starmer, thanking him and the UK “for their unwavering respect for our warriors” who had “made the ultimate sacrifice to defend Ukraine and all of Europe”.

Starmer has spent much of his final week in office focused on Ukraine, travelling to Paris on Monday for a meeting of the “coalition of the willing” at which he announced the UK would join the EU’s €90 billion (£78 billion) loan to Kyiv.

His time in office has been characterised by strong support for Ukraine, signing a 100-year partnership with the country and leading plans for a peacekeeping force to be deployed in the event of a ceasefire.

During the Kyiv trip, Starmer visited a residential area in the Podilskyi District, that local emergency services personnel told him was hit by Russian strikes earlier this month.

Burned-out vehicles lay scattered around a huge apartment building, which was directly struck during an attack on the morning of July 6th.

Eight residents died and at least seven were injured, while 41 apartment buildings were completely destroyed and more than 250 were damaged, officials said.

The prime minister was then shown a large crater in between a children’s play area and another residential building that was left in the ground after another strike.

He spoke to two elderly women who live close by, one of whom lives in a second floor apartment.

She told him that she had “no time to run away” during the strikes and this was translated to Starmer.

The woman said that she was “really terrified”, and Starmer told her that it was “outrageous” to attack civilians in residential areas.

Starmer has also visited a football ground to watch local teams made up of amputee veterans from the war.

The prime minister watched as seven-a-side teams Kolos-Bureviy and Shakhtar Stalevi played a competitive friendly game.

Olena Balbek, director of strategy and sustainability at the Ukrainian Football Association (UAF) said it was “amazing” that the prime minister watched the match, adding: “It’s really big support, it’s great, it means the world sees us.”