🔗 Share this article

Sir Keir Starmer is expected to urge partner nations to deliver Ukraine with further long-range missiles to target Moscow's positions during a meeting in the UK capital on Friday.

Sir Keir is set to welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky alongside what's known as "alliance of supportive nations", comprising more than 20 of Ukraine's allies who have pledged to grant Kyiv defense assurances once hostilities pause is negotiated.

Ukraine's president has been pleading for an extended period for more long-range weapons from Western nations, a step that Russia has warned would worsen the conflict.

President Zelensky is coming from Belgium, where he held talks with European Union officials on the previous day requesting funding aid.

"The only person involved in current hostilities who declines to stop the fighting is the Russian leader," the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister will also announce that a hundred further air defence missiles will be supplied to Ukrainian forces sooner than scheduled, as detailed in a £1.6bn deal reached between the United Kingdom and Kyiv in last spring.

Diplomatic Momentum

Zelensky comes after important international achievements recently: Washington's action to enact new measures against Moscow, and EU nations agreeing to fund a Ukrainian budget hole.

Britain's leader is aiming to sustain the forward movement by increasing the influence on Russia to pursue a conclusion to the hostilities.

Summit Participants

• Nato Secretary General the Secretary General
• Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen
• Holland's Dick Schoof
• Others including Paris's head Emmanuel Macron will join virtually

The Prime Minister will press participants to expand the supply of extended-range systems following a successful strike on a manufacturing site in Bryansk, the Russian Federation, using Britain-delivered missile systems.

"Furthermore, his horrific attacks on innocent children in a nursery this week demonstrate that abundantly clear," he added.

Two children were among a minimum of seven fatally wounded in numerous enemy assaults on Ukraine, which hit a preschool facility in the important metropolitan area Ukraine's second city.

Economic Talks

Sir Keir will consult partner nations on methods to remove Russian oil and gas off the global market.

The participants will also examine employing seized Moscow funds to provide the Ukrainian government with economic assistance, while the plan encountered a lack of political consensus and jurisdictional challenges at the European meeting on yesterday.

European Union stopped short of consenting to a proposal to utilize approximately €140 billion in frozen Russian assets to economically support the Ukrainian economy.

Nevertheless, the participants decided to help support Kyiv's "financial needs" for the next two years.

United States furthermore revealed measures on Wednesday against the Russian major petroleum firms, the state-owned company and the private firm, as component of initiatives to add monetary leverage on the Kremlin to enter ceasefire negotiations.

Moscow launched its major offensive of Ukrainian territory in February 2022. It at this time controls about 20% of Ukraine's soil, encompassing the southern Crimea peninsular Moscow annexed in 2014.