Sir Keir Starmer meets Volodymyr Zelenskyy in first visit to Ukraine as opposition leader
Sir Keir Starmer has met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy today as he made his first visit to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion last February.
The Labour leader‘s arrival in Kyiv comes just over a week after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a surprise trip to London to meet Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and King Charles.
Sir Keir told reporters that it is “very important” for him to be in Ukraine “making clear that support for Ukraine in the United Kingdom is united”.
He is also said to have reaffirmed the Labour Party’s “unwavering support” for Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
As part of the visit, Sir Keir travelled to Bucha and Irpin to see the sites of Russian war crimes.
He also met with experts in human rights, reconstruction and appropriations.
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Speaking after his meeting with President Zelenskyy, Sir Keir said: “I had a very constructive meeting with President Zelenskyy, and we were able to discuss the support that Ukraine needs and the justice that it deserves.
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Sir Keir Starmer visits Kyiv
“We spoke about the need for that justice to cover both the use of Russian state assets for reconstruction and the need for there to be prosecutions for war crimes.
“I was able to tell him that should there be a change of government when we have a general election here, the support for Ukraine will remain the same.
“It’s a very important message for me to be able to relay to the president face to face, and I’ve been able to do that this afternoon.
Sir Keir reaffirmed his ‘unwavering support’ to Ukraine in the war against Russia
“We discussed a range of issues, he’s very concerned about support through weapons and the continuation of training for Ukraine, and I stressed that the Labour Party supports and would maintain the defence, training, and technological support the current UK government is providing.
“I’ve said throughout this conflict there will be no difference between the political parties on this, so we will continue to work with the government to see what further support we can provide.”
Starmer’s Ukraine visit latest attempt to be seen as PM-in-waiting
In Prime Minister’s Questions last week, minutes before President Zelenskyy addressed MPs and peers in Westminster Hall, Sir Keir Starmer said it was vital for Parliament to stand together in full support of Ukraine.
But his visit to Kyiv and his face-to-face meeting with the president in the country’s war-torn capital will inevitably be seen as the Labour leader’s latest attempt to be seen by the British public as a prime minister-in-waiting.
The Labour leader has already met Ukrainian soldiers being trained by the British Army on a visit to Salisbury Plain last August and earlier, just 15 days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he met NATO troops during a visit to Estonia.
In PMQs last Wednesday, in his most bipartisan exchange yet with Rishi Sunak, Sir Keir declared: “Across this House, we must speak with one voice and say that this terrible conflict must end with the defeat of Putin in Ukraine.”
Later, after President Zelenskyy’s emotional Westminster Hall speech, Sir Keir was introduced to the president by Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle before having a further conversation with him at a reception in the Speaker’s Apartments.
Sir Keir has been hoping to visit Ukraine for several months, going back to when Boris Johnson was Prime Minister last summer. Traditionally, governments are not enthusiastic about opposition leaders or shadow ministers making such trips.
But It seems that Mr Sunak has given his blessing for Sir Keir’s trip and the Labour leader’s strong backing for the prime minister on Ukraine, not least his show of solidarity at PMQs last week, will have been noted in Downing Street and Kyiv.
Sir Keir is not the first national opposition leader to visit Kyiv, however. Last year the head of Germany’s biggest opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union, travelled to the capital last May and was received by President Zelenskyy.
Mr Sunak met the president in Kyiv in November, pledging to match the support given to Ukraine by Mr Johnson. And during the president’s UK visit last week he said in response to his plea for jet fighters: “Nothing is off the table.”
During Mr Zelenskyy’s visit to London, the UK government announced the country will now train pilots on the operation of NATO-standard fighter jets as well as marines alongside expanding the training of Ukrainian recruits from 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers this year.
It had been reported over the summer that Sir Keir had approached the Ukrainian president about the possibility of a visit as opposition leader.
Rishi Sunak and Volodymyr Zelenskyy shook hands after meeting Ukrainian troops being trained at a military facility in Dorset
The trip comes as the Labour leader looks to strengthen his relations with the Ukrainian government as the fight against Russia nears its one-year anniversary.
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Sir Keir has previously visited the Polish border and troops in Estonia where he affirmed Labour’s “unshakeable” commitment to NATO.
The prime minister made a surprise visit to Kyiv back in November on his first trip to Ukraine since taking office.
Mr Sunak pledged that UK support for Ukraine in the fight against Russia would remain steadfast.
President Zelenskyy praised the “meaningful and useful visit for both our countries”.
Seven people have been killed and dozens are injured after two bridges collapsed in Russia overnight.
A train derailed after a bridge collapsed on to it in the Bryansk region, killing the driver and six others.
Some 69 people were injured in the crash, with the train travelling from Moscow to Klimov at the time.
Earlier, local authorities blamed “illegal interference” for the incident.
Later, a bridge collapsed in Russia’s Kursk region while a freight train was passing over it.
Local officials said one of the train’s drivers was injured in the crash.
The scene of the train crash in Kursk region. Pic: RIA/Telegram
Russia’s Baza Telegram channel, which often publishes information from sources in the security services and law
enforcement, reported, without providing evidence, that the bridge in Bryansk was blown up, according to initial information.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Since the start of the war that Russia launched more than three years ago, there have been continued cross-border shelling, drone strikes, and covert raids by Ukrainian forces into the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions that border Ukraine.
Pic: Moscow Transport Prosecutor’s Office
Bryansk regional governor Alexander Bogomaz said: “Everything is being done to provide all necessary assistance to the victims.”
Emergency workers are at the scene of the train derailment, attempting to pull survivors from the wreckage.
Russia’s federal road transportation agency said the destroyed bridge passed above the railway tracks where the train was travelling.
Images from the scene show passenger cars ripped apart and lying amid fallen concrete from the collapsed bridge.
Other footage on social media appeared to be taken from inside vehicles which narrowly avoided driving onto the bridge before it collapsed.
World
Israel confirms Hamas chief Mohammad Sinwar was killed – as group makes counter-offer on ceasefire
Israel has confirmed its forces have killed Hamas’s Gaza chief, Mohammad Sinwar, as US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff called the group’s counter-offer on a ceasefire “totally unacceptable”.
Mohammad Sinwar became the leader of the militant group in the Gaza Strip after his older brother Yahya Sinwar was killed last October.
In a statement, the Israeli military said it had killed Sinwar on 13 May, and was the target of a strike on a hospital in southern Gaza.
Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied his death, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told parliament on Wednesday that he had been “eliminated”.
A handout image of Mohammed Sinwar from December 2023. Pic: Israeli Army / Reuters
Hamas seeks changes in US ceasefire proposal
It comes as Hamas said it was seeking amendments to a US-proposed ceasefire deal, offering 10 living Israeli hostages and the bodies of 18 in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
On Thursday, the White House said Israel agreed to a 60-day ceasefire proposal, which would see the release of nine living hostages and half of the known hostages who have died over the course of a week.
Israel and Hamas would then continue talks to bring the remaining hostages home, but Israel would retain the right to resume military action in Gaza if talks were to break down.
In a statement about the proposal on Saturday, Hamas said its response “aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to our people in the Strip”.
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Israeli ambassador claims ‘no starvation in Gaza’
Hamas offer ‘totally unacceptable’ – Witkoff
Donald Trump’s special Middle East envoy, Mr Witkoff, said on social media that Hamas’s response is “totally unacceptable and only takes us backwards”.
“Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week,” he added.
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim told Reuters that the group has not rejected the proposal but added Mr Witkoff’s response was “unfair” and showed “complete bias” towards Israel.
Israel has not yet responded to Hamas’ counter-offer, but has previously rejected the conditions and demanded the complete disarmament and dismantling of the group.
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Meanwhile, Gaza aid groups have said dozens of World Food Programme (WFP) trucks carrying flour to Gaza bakeries had been hijacked by armed groups and subsequently looted by people.
The WFP added: “After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by.”
Read more:
Last hospital in northern Gaza out of service
How the new Gaza aid system collapsed into chaos
UK will ‘seek to do more if it can’ for Gaza children – Lammy
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Amjad Al-Shawa, head of an umbrella group representing Palestinian aid groups, said hundreds more trucks were needed and accused Israel of a “systematic policy of starvation”.
Israel denies operating a policy of starvation and says it is facilitating aid deliveries via the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Instead, it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies.
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