Ukraine's Zelenskiy attends UK cabinet, renews calls on long-range missiles

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed British government ministers on Friday, a rare appearance by a foreign leader at a cabinet meeting that new Prime Minister Keir Starmer hopes will underline London's support for Kyiv.

A day after hosting a forum of European leaders at Blenheim Palace, Starmer pressed on with his bid to raise Britain's role in international affairs by inviting Zelenskiy to address his cabinet of top ministers. The last foreign leader to do so was US President Bill Clinton in 1997, Starmer's office said.

Zelenskiy renewed his call for Western allies to allow long-range strikes on Russia, saying Britain should try to convince its partners, which have taken varying approaches to how Ukraine can use weapons they supply, to remove the limits on their use.

"Right now we are missing the main answer to this question and that is our long-range capability," Zelenskiy said at the beginning of the meeting in Downing Street. "Please convince the other partners to remove the limits."

Starmer told Zelenskiy Britain would speed up delivery of vital aid to Ukraine, after his defence minister said earlier this month that the deliveries promised by the former Conservative government would be delivered within 100 days.

"Ukraine is, and always will be, at the heart of this government's agenda and so it is only fitting that President Zelenskiy will make a historic address to my cabinet," Starmer said in a statement before the meeting.



Reuters