UK pledges hundreds of new attack drones to Ukraine as Zelenskyy seeks ‘jets coalition’
Ukraine’s president wants to create a “jets coalition” after face-to-face talks with Rishi Sunak, as the UK pledged to send hundreds of new long-range attack drones to Ukraine.
After discussions with Mr Sunak at Chequers about military aid for his country, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said jets are a “very important topic for us because we can’t control the sky”.
“I think you will hear important decisions in the closest time, but we have to work a bit more,” he added.
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The prime minister revealed the UK would start training Ukrainian pilots to use Western fighter jets “relatively soon”, helped by the opening of a new flying school.
Mr Sunak said the pair discussed “long-term” security arrangements from allied countries for Ukraine, as its troops prepare for a counteroffensive against Russia’s invading forces.
Mr Zelenskyy said Kyiv needs “more time” to prepare, as he embarks on a multi-stop European tour for increased support from allies.
UK’s new flying school
Downing Street said an elementary flying phase for cohorts of Ukrainian pilots will begin this summer.
The prime minister tweeted it will give them the “training they need to handle different types of aircraft” and “better defend their citizens against Russian aggression”.
It comes after the government announced the further provision of hundreds of air defence missiles, and further unmanned aerial systems, including hundreds of new long-range attack drones with a range of over 200km.
They will be delivered over the coming months.
Speaking from the prime minister’s country retreat, Mr Zelenskyy said Ukrainians are “thankful from all our hearts” for support provided by the government.
It follows confirmation last week the UK is donating long-range precision missiles to Ukraine’s military.
In response, the Kremlin said it takes an “extremely negative view” of Britain’s aid packages, notably the decision to supply long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
Zelenskyy tight-lipped on counteroffensive
British support aid could help a long mooted spring counteroffensive by Ukraine.
Speaking at Chequers, Mr Zelenskyy said his military required “some more time” before launching one.
“We really need some more time – not too much. We’ll be ready in some time,” he said.
“There are some secrets from our ‘neighbours’ and that’s why we have to prepare.”
It comes as fierce fighting continues in Ukraine’s eastern city of Bakhmut, inflicting heavy losses on both sides.
Neither Kyiv nor Moscow’s forces have been able to take full control of the city despite months of fighting, as analysis suggests the battle for the city is not about seizing ground but maximising enemy casualties.
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EU allies pledge more support
The announcements from the UK follow fresh aid committed by Ukraine’s allies in the EU.
On Saturday, the German government promised Kyiv its biggest military support package so far, with further arms deliveries worth €2.7bn (£2.35bn).
France also pledged dozens of light tanks and armoured vehicles “in the weeks ahead”.
Emmanuel Macron’s office made the announcement after a summit with Mr Zelenskyy in Paris on Sunday.
The Ukrainian president’s meeting with Mr Sunak on Monday was their first since February.
Britain has been one of the largest suppliers of military aid to Ukraine since February 2022’s invasion, contributing £2.3bn worth of support last year and pledging a similar amount for 2023.
Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
Speaking with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States,” he added, “going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”
Weapons being sent include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which Ukraine has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.
Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.
It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump against Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.
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Trump says Putin ‘talks nice and then bombs everybody’
During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call,” but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.
“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.
Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.
After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”
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Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.
He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.
At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.
Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.
The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.
It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.
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In March, Sky’s Stuart Ramsay described escalating violence within Syria
The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.
Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.
But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.
It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.
Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.
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Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.
That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.
The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.
The man convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher has been charged with sexual assault against an ex-girlfriend.
Rudy Guede, 38, was the only person who was definitively convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Ms Kercher in Perugia, Italy, back in 2007.
He will be standing trial again in November after an ex-girlfriend filed a police report in the summer of 2023 accusing Guede of mistreatment, personal injury and sexual violence.
Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was released from prison for the murder of Leeds University student Ms Kercher in 2021, after having served about 13 years of a 16-year sentence.
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Since last year – when this investigation was still ongoing – Guede has been under a “special surveillance” regime, Sky News understands, meaning he was banned from having any contact with the woman behind the sexual assault allegations, including via social media, and had to inform police any time he left his city of residence, Viterbo, as ruled by a Rome court.
Guede has been serving a restraining order and fitted with an electronic ankle tag.
The Kercher murder case, in the university city of Perugia, was the subject of international attention.
Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found murdered in the flat she shared with her American roommate, Amanda Knox.
The Briton’s throat had been cut and she had been stabbed 47 times.
(L-R) Raffaele Sollecito, Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox. File pic: AP
Ms Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were placed under suspicion.
Both were initially convicted of murder, but Italy’s highest court overturned their convictions, acquitting them in 2015.
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