{"id":695662,"date":"2026-07-16T23:23:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T23:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/695662\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T23:23:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T23:23:30","slug":"british-support-for-ukraine-will-not-waver-with-new-pm-vows-starmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/695662\/","title":{"rendered":"British support for Ukraine \u2018will not waver\u2019 with new PM, vows Starmer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sir 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.<\/p>\n

The outgoing Prime Minister met Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Thursday, just hours after a series of Russian strikes that killed two and injured six, including a teenager.<\/p>\n

He also said that the UK\u2019s support for Ukraine \u201cwill not waver\u201d and the prime ministerial transition will not \u201cchange that dynamic\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Sky News during his last interview on the trip, Sir Keir said: \u201dI believe Ukraine will win this war.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWhat they\u2019ve shown is that it\u2019s not just the size of your army, it\u2019s how you fight a modern conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so they are probably the most effective fighting machine in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RussianPrime Minister Sir Keir Starmer meets emergency workers in the Podilskyi area of Kyiv (Stefan Rousseau\/PA)<\/p>\n

Sir Keir, asked if he had had assurances from his successor over continuing support for Ukraine, told the broadcaster: \u201cI would not have said what I said to President Zelensky which is really important, if I wasn\u2019t confident about what I was saying.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI\u2019m not somebody else\u2019s spokesperson. I\u2019m not telling somebody else what to do or offering advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut 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\u2019t 100% confident about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Keir\u2019s visit came on his final full day as Labour leader.<\/p>\n

Andy Burnham will take over the party leadership at a special conference in London on Friday before entering Downing Street on Monday.<\/p>\n

\"RussianPrime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is presented with The Order of Freedom by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the gardens of the Presidential Palace in Kyiv (Stefan Rousseau\/PA)<\/p>\n

That handover of power would not change the relationship between the two nations, Sir Keir said at a press conference at Mr Zelensky\u2019s official ceremonial residence.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThe fact that there will be a new prime minister in the United Kingdom, in the days to come, doesn\u2019t change that dynamic at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe resolve of the United Kingdom remains the same, it will not waver.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI say that with real confidence because it has not wavered since the outbreak of this conflict\u201d, and noted there had been intra and cross-party unity on the issue and the \u201cUkrainian flag still flies above Downing Street\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"RussianPrime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is greeted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Presidential Palace in Kyiv (Stefan Rousseau\/PA)<\/p>\n

There was huge resolve across politics and among the public, as the conflict touched people\u2019s lives in Britain, through rising costs and state-backed Russian aggression at home, Sir Keir said.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he was disappointed that he would not see an end to the conflict before leaving No 10, Sir Keir told reporters: \u201cThis isn\u2019t about me, it\u2019s about a country, Ukraine, that has faced an aggressor for now in the fifth year.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the press conference got under way, Sir Keir 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: \u201cIt really means a huge amount.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Keir also announced the 300 million-euro funding to help deliver a squadron of 16 advanced Swedish Gripen jets to Ukraine by 2029.<\/p>\n

The 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.<\/p>\n

The Gripen aircraft can be used for air-to-air combat, ground strikes and reconnaissance missions, and ministers said they would help modernise Ukraine\u2019s air force and boost its capability to defend against Moscow\u2019s unrelenting aerial attacks.<\/p>\n

\"RussianPrime Minister Sir Keir Starmer meets residents in the Podilskyi area of Kyiv which was hit by multiple Russian missile strikes (Stefan Rousseau\/PA)<\/p>\n

The two leaders \u201cagreed that the increase in attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks was despicable,\u201d according to a Downing Street read-out of their bilateral meeting, in which Sir Keir reiterated he was \u201ccertain\u201d UK support for Ukraine would continue.<\/p>\n

Mr Zelensky, asked how five prime ministers since the war started has affected his relations with government, said that he had built \u201cstrong relations\u201d with all of them.<\/p>\n

He added that he hoped to build \u201cnew strong relations\u201d with the next prime minister and that he wanted to have a meeting \u201cas soon as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Zelensky, asked if he was concerned about changes of leadership in the UK, and in France next year, said: \u201cOf course I\u2019m afraid of changes, of course we are afraid because we are in the war each day.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut again the priority is the relation between nations, not just between just people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure that these relations will not change, or we have to do our best not to lose such very good relations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RussianPrime Minister Sir Keir Starmer walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the gardens of the Presidential Palace in Kyiv (Stefan Rousseau\/PA)<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI hope we will never lose strong relations with the UK during or after the war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Keir replied: \u201cYou won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier, after they visited Kyiv\u2019s memorial wall, the Ukrainian president paid tribute to Sir Keir, thanking him and the UK \u201cfor their unwavering respect for our warriors\u201d who had \u201cmade the ultimate sacrifice to defend Ukraine and all of Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sir Keir has spent much of his final week in office focused on Ukraine, travelling to Paris on Monday for a meeting of the \u201ccoalition of the willing\u201d at which he announced the UK would join the EU\u2019s 90 billion euro (\u00a378 billion) loan to Kyiv.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

During the Kyiv trip, Sir Keir visited a residential area in the Podilskyi District, that local emergency services personnel told him was hit by Russian strikes earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\"RussianPrime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pay their respects at a wreath laying at the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine (Stefan Rousseau\/PA)<\/p>\n

Burned-out vehicles lay scattered around a huge apartment building, which was directly struck during an attack on the morning of July 6.<\/p>\n

Eight residents died and at least seven were injured, while 41 apartment buildings were completely destroyed and more than 250 were damaged, officials said.<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister was then shown a large crater in between a children\u2019s play area and another residential building that was left in the ground after another strike.<\/p>\n

He spoke to two elderly women who live close by, one of whom lives in a second floor apartment.<\/p>\n

She told him that she had \u201cno time to run away\u201d during the strikes and this was translated to Sir Keir.<\/p>\n

The woman said that she was \u201creally terrified\u201d, and Sir Keir told her that it was \u201coutrageous\u201d to attack civilians in residential areas.<\/p>\n

\"RussianPrime Minister Sir Keir Starmer meets members of a war veteran\u2019s amputee football team who play in a Kyiv football league against other amputee teams (Stefan Rousseau\/PA)<\/p>\n

Sir Keir has also visited a football ground to watch local teams made up of amputee veterans from the war.<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister watched as seven-a-side teams Kolos-Bureviy and Shakhtar Stalevi played a competitive friendly game.<\/p>\n

Olena Balbek, director of strategy and sustainability at the Ukrainian Football Association (UAF) said it was \u201camazing\u201d that the Prime Minister watched the match, adding: \u201cIt\u2019s really big support, it\u2019s great, it means the world sees us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir Keir Starmer has said he believes Ukraine will win the war against Russia as he ended his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":695663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-695662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=695662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/695663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}