Ukraine disappointed with UK over its reluctance to give weapons – The Guardian

The Ukrainian government believes its relationship with the UK government has deteriorated. This was owing to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's reluctance to provide Kyiv with long-range Storm Shadow missiles. Source: The Guardian, as reported by European Pravda 

Details: According to the publication, the UK government's dissatisfaction with Kyiv stemmed from a debate between Starmer and Volodymyr Zelenskyy during an October meeting.

Then Zelensky delivered his Victory Plan, which, according to a source in The Guardian in Kyiv, did not elicit a "big response." The newspaper implied that Starmer was unwilling to make strategic decisions without US clearance, which the PM refuted privately. As mentioned in the newspaper, Ukraine's major contention is that since Labour took office, the UK has not provided any additional Storm Shadow missiles. Quote: "It isn't happening.

Starmer isn't giving us long-range weapons. The situation is not the same as when Rishi Sunak was prime minister. The relationship has got worse," an anonymous Ukrainian official told the Guardian.

Zelenskyy expressed his concerns during a meeting with Starmer at the European Political Community summit on 7 November, but Kyiv stated that the discussion did not result in "no progress at all" in supplying Storm Shadow.

As follows from the sources of The Guardian, the "missile issue" is the reason that Starmer has not yet visited Ukraine since taking office as prime minister. "We have been discussing since August a possible visit by Starmer. Various dates have come and gone.

Starmer has postponed several times. There's no point in his coming as a tourist. At the moment he's not willing to take the decisions which are necessary," the official said.

The United Kingdom is the third largest donor of military equipment to Kyiv, trailing only the United States and Germany, and has supplied or pledged GBP12.8 billion in aid to Ukraine since 2022.

In October, it was revealed that the UK military command was considering sending troops to Ukraine's west to train recruits.

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