Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at a naval base in England on Monday for a face-to-face meeting with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who has been in office for just one week. Burnham described the visit as a demonstration of the United Kingdom’s “unwavering” backing of Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia.
Zelenskyy’s arrival marks the first time a foreign leader has visited Britain since Burnham assumed the role of prime minister. His predecessor, Keir Starmer, had traveled to Kyiv less than two weeks ago on his final overseas trip before stepping down. Burnham now becomes the fifth British prime minister to engage with the Ukrainian president since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Burnham, who spent the past nine years serving as mayor of Greater Manchester and has limited experience in foreign affairs, delivered a firm message to Moscow. “Russia should be in no doubt of our resolve, and we will not back down until we achieve long lasting and just peace for Ukraine,” he said.
During the visit, both leaders met with more than 200 Ukrainian military personnel who have been in Britain for the past three weeks. Those troops participated in exercises designed to build their combat capabilities and improve countermine operations in the Black Sea, according to the British government.
The U.K. also announced it will hand over the intellectual property behind its newly developed “Stone Cloak” electronic warfare system to Ukraine. The technology is designed to prevent drones from being detected by enemy systems, Burnham’s office said.
Ukraine has been stepping up deep-strike drone attacks inside Russian territory, hitting oil facilities, military manufacturing sites, and logistical hubs. The campaign has brought the reality of war to millions of Russian citizens and increased pressure on President Vladimir Putin. Despite the strikes, Putin has shown no signs of backing down, and Russia has continued to pound Ukraine with missiles and drones.
Overnight, Russia launched 147 long-range strike drones at Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian air force, which reported that 123 of those drones were either intercepted or electronically jammed.
In the city of Zaporizhzhia, one person was killed and two others were wounded after a series of overnight strikes damaged a high-rise apartment building and several private homes, regional administration head Ivan Fedorov reported.
In the Nikopol district of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian strikes hit a kindergarten, residential buildings, and local infrastructure. A woman and a 6-year-old boy were among those injured, according to regional administration head Oleksandr Hanzha.
Russia’s Defense Ministry reported from Moscow that its air defenses brought down 276 Ukrainian drones overnight. In the Rostov region, Governor Yuri Slyusar said a couple died when a Ukrainian drone struck an apartment building in Rostov-on-Don, with five additional people injured in the city. In Belgorod, a drone attack left 12 people hurt, including two children, regional emergency officials said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced that Ukraine had struck an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea, killing one sailor. In a statement posted on X on Sunday, Araghchi called the attack a “blatant U.N. Charter violation done at Israel’s behest to drag Europe into its war.” He said he communicated to both European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that the strike “can’t go unanswered.”
Zelenskyy, for his part, said Ukrainian long-range strikes in the Caspian Sea over the weekend produced “very good results,” noting that the targets included “vessels involved in transporting military cargo linked to Iran, as well as a warship.”
