[News] Rishi Sunak meets Zelensky in Kyiv to pledge £50m in defence aid

[FazzNoth]

Rishi Sunak has met with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in his first visit to the Kyiv since he became prime minister.

The Brtish premier is set to confirm a new £50m package of air defence for the war-torn country, including 125 anti-aircraft guns and technology to counter deadly Iranian-supplied drones, such as dozens of radars and anti-drone electronic warfare capability, No 10 said.

It follows more than 1,000 new anti-air missiles announced by the defence secretary earlier this month.

Elsewhere, the head of Ukraine’s biggest private energy firm has said those who are able to should leave the country to help reduce demand on the nation’s crippled energy system.

Maxim Timchenko, chief executive of DTEK, said those who have an “alternative place” to stay should go there for “three of four months.”

His comments to the BBC came after Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said that half of the country’s energy system had been destroyed by recent missile attacks by Russia.

Russian forces are digging new trenches some 60km back from the current front line in Ukraine, according to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), suggesting the Kremlin is bracing for further Ukrainian advances.

After retreating from Kherson – the only regional capital captured during the war so far – Russia continues to lose ground and its forces are focussing on reorganising, preparing and refitting defences across Ukraine, the MoD said in its latest intelligence update.

Rishi Sunak has travelled to Ukraine to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky and confirm the UK’s continued support for the war-torn country.

The visit is Mr Sunak’s first to the region since he became prime minister last month.

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