David Cameron meets Volodymyr Zelensky in first official visit to Ukraine
David Cameron has visited Ukraine in his first overseas trip as Foreign Secretary.
The former prime minister pledged the UK’s continued moral, diplomatic, economic and “above all, the military support”.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said: “We had a good meeting focused on weapons for the frontline, strengthening air defence, and protecting our people and critical infrastructure.
“I am grateful to the UK for its support!”
The trip renews the UK’s commitment to Ukraine, following reports that President Zelensky is concerned the US and its Western allies is abandoning the country amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.
As new Foreign Secretary, Lord Cameron hopes to revamp Britain’s standing on the world stage before the general election, insiders told i‘s Jane Merrick.
But the former PM “hasn’t come back to just shake hands with people, he wants to make a real difference, however long he has got”, one insider said.
Tom Fletcher, a former diplomat who was also foreign policy adviser to Lord Cameron in Downing Street, said that while Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov “has a view that he can push around a British Foreign Secretary”, he is “not going to think that with David Cameron”.
The meeting comes after Ukraine’s military chief, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, told the Economist earlier this month that the battlefield had reached a stalemate, adding that “there will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough,” but instead simply further losses.
In an interview with TIME‘s Simon Shuster, President Zelensky said that while nobody believes in Ukraine’s victory like he does, the effort to continue to instill those beliefs in Ukraine’s allies “takes all your power, your energy.”
“Exhaustion with the war rolls along like a wave. You see it in the United States, in Europe,” Zelensky added.
This is breaking story and will be updated.
