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The prime minister said Russia would have hit “new lows” if it turns out that Moscow is responsible for what he described as the largest attack on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine since the start of the war, following the destruction of a critical dam.

Speaking en route to Washington, Rishi Sunak told reporters that the intelligence agencies had yet to make a definitive judgement on whether President Putin was behind the “appalling attack” on the Nova Kakhova dam as he condemned the incident.

“If it’s intentional, it would represent, I think, the largest attack on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine since the start of the war, and just demonstrate the new lows that we would have seen from Russian aggression,” he told the press ahead of his two-day trip to Washington.

War latest: US working to share intel on dam disaster

“Attacks on civilian infrastructure are appalling and wrong. We’ve seen previous instances of that in this conflict so far, but it’s too early to say definitively.”

The prime minister also said that the UK’s immediate response to this attack was to offer humanitarian assistance.

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Why is the PM going to Washington?

“We had already put resources and funding in place to support both the UN and the Red Cross to respond to situations like this,” he said. “And they are now being able to divert those resources to particularly help humanitarian response and the evacuation in this area as a result of what’s happened.”

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As with the G7 in Japan but two weeks ago, the matter of Ukraine and how Western allies can best support Kyiv in its battle against Russia will be a central part of discussions between the UK and US leaders when Mr Sunak holds bi-lateral talks in the Oval Office on Thursday.

“One of the things the prime minister and President Biden will discuss is how we can sustain the huge level of global support for Ukraine while providing them with the capabilities they need, including air defence,” the prime minister’s spokesperson said ahead of the trip.

These discussions come as allies intensify support before Ukraine’s expected summer counteroffensive.

A big breakthrough came at the G7 last month when the US signalled it and allies would provide training and F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, a request President Zelenskyy hammered home to allies for months before the US moved.

Read more:
Analysis: Dam attack could be most damaging single event of Ukraine war so far
US intelligence “leaning towards” Moscow being behind
Kyiv launches ‘offensive actions’ on frontline

Number 10 is keen to stress not just the Rishi Sunak reset after the testy era of the Boris Johnson and Liz Truss reigns, but the strengthening of relations between the US and UK under a Sunak premiership.

In his favour has been the resolution with the EU over post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland, and Mr Sunak’s steadfast support for Ukraine.

And this will certainly be a trip full of photo-ops to reinforce the “special relationship”. As well as the images of the prime minister on Capitol Hill and in the Oval Office finished off with a White House press conference, Mr Sunak will also attend the Washington Nationals baseball game as the guest of honour to celebrate the annual UK-US friendship day – although he won’t be throwing the ceremonial first pitch, instead leaving that task to a British veteran.

The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak holds a bilateral meeting with the US President Joe Biden during his visit to Northern Ireland. Picture by Simon Walker / No 10 Downing Street
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Rishi Sunak with Joe Biden during his visit to Northern Ireland. Pic: Simon Walker / No 10
Rishi Sunak talks with Joe Biden before a session on the first day of the G7 Leaders Summit in Hiroshima Japan 
Pic:No 10 Downing Street
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Rishi Sunak talks with Joe Biden before a session on the first day of the G7 Leaders Summit in Japan. Pic: No 10

A prime minister with a background in finance and an interest in tech – he met his wife in California while studying at Stanford – Mr Sunak is trying to play to his strengths with his emphasis on greater economic interoperability and deeper trade ties, while also making a pitch to President Biden to get the UK more deeply involved in the regulation of AI.

But as he tries to forge a post-Brexit place in the world for the UK – Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak’s leadership on Ukraine an undoubted positive – London is disadvantaged: When it comes to AI, it is the US, China and the EU at the leading edge with the UK largely on the sidelines.

When it comes to trade, the Biden administration has put the much-vaunted US-UK free trade deal into the deep freeze, so much so that neither side plan to even raise it in these bilateral talks.

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Ukraine War: Major dam attack

While Mr Sunak will use the trip to try to drum up more US investment, with an announcement of £14bn of US backing into the UK and an address to the “business roundtable chief executive” forum, the absence of any trade deal is another broken Conservative manifesto promise.

Mr Johnson and his government had championed a US trade deal as a big Brexit bonus, while President Trump insisted in 2017 the UK was “at the front of the queue”.

It now appears that President Obama’s “back of the queue” warning ahead of the 2016 EU referendum is more apposite, with no timeline as to when, if ever, a bilateral trade deal will be dusted down.

“Neither side is pursuing a US free trade deal currently, but our trading relationship with the US is vital,” the prime minister’s spokesperson said.

Trade between the countries now stands at £279bn a year. Back in 2020, government analysis suggested a trade deal could increase trade – which then stood at £221bn – by £15.8bn and also said wages could get a long-term bounce worth £1.8bn from a US deal.

Pic: AP
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Pic: AP

On Artificial Intelligence, the PM wants to take a lead in setting a regulatory framework, something he has raised as the G7, but post-Brexit, the UK has been locked out of key forums between the EU and The US where AI governance plans are negotiated on a bilateral basis. Britain’s requests for a similar dialogue with Washington have been repeatedly rebuffed, which has left Mr Sunak forced to pursue direct channels to president Biden, which he will do this week.

The PM hopes to make the UK the venue for an international summit on generative AI summit later in the year, and is also pushing for a new inter-governmental regulator for this emerging technology to be based in the UK.

And some do see a post-Brexit opportunity for Britain, offering the US a more flexible middle ground between the EU and US approach to standards and regulations, while also being potentially tougher on Beijing than Brussels might be.

AI could be a policy area where the UK could act as a transatlantic bridge between the US and Europe – if Mr Sunak can land it.

Darren Jones, chair of the business select committee, said a “key test” for the PM will be to “successfully pitch the UK as a useful partner that offers a different approach to the EU. Failure will leave us out of the room, not at the table and out in the cold.”

For the Prime Minister, the continue focus on Ukraine amplifies a global issue in which the UK has been able to demonstrate strong leadership post Brexit, and claim the US can work together on building stronger ties on trade and regulating AI.

But without a trade deal in sight, or even on the horizon, and struggling to insert the Uk into the EU-US discussions on AI, he really does have his work cut out.

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Heathrow bosses ‘warned about substation’ days before major power outage, MP committee hears

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Heathrow bosses 'warned about substation' days before major power outage, MP committee hears

Heathrow Airport bosses had been warned of a potential substation failures less than a week before a major power outage closed the airport for a day, a committee of MPs has heard.

The chief executive of Heathrow Airline Operators’ Committee Nigel Wicking told MPs of the Transport Committee he raised issues about resilience on 15 March after cable and wiring took out lights on a runway.

A fire at an electricity substation in west London meant the power supply was disrupted to Europe’s largest airport for a day – causing travel chaos for around 200,000 passengers.

“I’d actually warned Heathrow of concerns that we had with regard to the substations and my concern was resilience”, Mr Wicking said.

“So the first occasion was to team Heathrow director on the 15th of the month of March. And then I also spoke to the chief operating officer and chief customer officer two days before regarding this concern.

“And it was following a number of, a couple of incidents of, unfortunately, theft, of wire and cable around some of the power supply that on one of those occasions, took out the lights on the runway for a period of time. That obviously made me concerned.”

Mr Wicking also said he believed Heathrow’s Terminal 5 could have been ready to receive repatriation flights by “late morning” on the day of the closure, and that “there was opportunity also to get flights out”.

However, Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye said keeping the airport open during last month’s power outage would have been “disastrous”.

There was a risk of having “literally tens of thousands of people stranded in the airport, where we have nowhere to put them”, Mr Woldbye said.

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Zhenhao Zou: More than 20 new potential victims come forward after ‘prolific’ rapist jailed for assaulting 10 women

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Zhenhao Zou: More than 20 new potential victims come forward after 'prolific' rapist jailed for assaulting 10 women

Another 23 female potential victims have reported that they may have been raped by Zhenhao Zou – the Chinese PhD student detectives believe may be one of the country’s most prolific sex offenders.

The Metropolitan Police launched an international appeal after Zou, 28, was convicted of drugging and raping 10 women following a trial at the Inner London Crown Court last month.

Detectives have not confirmed whether the 23 people who have come forward add to their estimates that more than 50 other women worldwide may have been targeted by the University College London student.

Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth said: “We have victims reaching out to us from different parts of the globe.

“At the moment, the primary places where we believe offending may have occurred at this time appears to be both in England, here in London, and over in China.”

Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth
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Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth

Zou lived in a student flat in Woburn Place, near Russell Square in central London, and later in a flat in the Uncle building in Churchyard Row in Elephant and Castle, south London.

Read more: How a student described as ‘smart and charming’ was unmasked as a prolific sexual predator

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He had also been a student at Queen’s University Belfast, where he studied mechanical engineering from 2017 until 2019. Police say they have not had any reports from Belfast but added they were “open-minded about that”.

“Given how active and prolific Zou appears to have been with his awful offending, there is every prospect that he could have offended anywhere in the world,” Mr Southworth said.

“We wouldn’t want anyone to write off the fact they may have been a victim of his behaviour simply by virtue of the fact that you are from a certain place.

“The bottom line is, if you think you may have been affected by Zhenhao Zou or someone you know may have been, please don’t hold back. Please make contact with us.”

***ONLY USE IF HE IS CONVICTED OF AT LEAST TWO RAPES***It is feared Zou may have carried out dozens more sex crimes. Pic: Met Police
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Pic: Met Police

Zou used hidden or handheld cameras to record his attacks, and kept the footage and often the women’s belongings as souvenirs.

He targeted young, Chinese women, inviting them to his flat for drinks or to study, before drugging and assaulting them.

Zou was convicted of 11 counts of rape, with two of the offences relating to one victim, as well as three counts of voyeurism, 10 counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one count of false imprisonment and three counts of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely butanediol.

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Moment police arrest rapist student

Mr Southworth said: “Of those 10 victims, several were not identified so as we could be sure exactly where in the world they were, but their cases, nevertheless, were sufficient to see convictions at court.

“There were also, at the time, 50 videos that were identified of further potential female victims of Zhenhao Zou’s awful crimes.

“We are still working to identify all of those women in those videos.

“We have now, thankfully, had 23 victim survivors come forward through the appeal that we’ve conducted, some of whom may be identical with some of the females that we saw in those videos, some of whom may even turn out to be from the original indicted cases.”

Mr Southworth added: “Ultimately, now it’s the investigation team’s job to professionally pick our way through those individual pieces of evidence, those individual victims’ stories, to see if we can identify who may have been a victim, when and where, so then we can bring Zou to justice for the full extent of his crimes.”

Mr Southworth said more resources will be put into the investigation, and that detectives are looking to understand “what may have happened without wishing to revisit the trauma, but in a way that enables [the potential victims] to give evidence in the best possible way.”

The Metropolitan Police is appealing to anyone who thinks they may have been targeted by Zou to contact the force either by emailing survivors@met.police.uk, or via the major incident public portal on the force’s website.

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Girl, 11, who went missing after entering River Thames named

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Girl, 11, who went missing after entering River Thames named

An 11-year-old girl who went missing after entering the River Thames has been named as Kaliyah Coa.

An “extensive search” has been carried out after the incident in east London at around 1.30pm on Monday.

Police said the child had been playing during a school inset day and entered the water near Barge House Causeway, North Woolwich.

A recovery mission is now said to be under way to find Kaliyah along the Thames, with the Metropolitan Police carrying out an extensive examination of the area.

Location of Barge House Causeway, North Woolwich, where 11-year-old girl Kaliyah Coa went into the River Thames on 31/03
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Barge House Causeway is a concrete slope in North Woolwich leading into the Thames

Chief Superintendent Dan Card thanked members of the public and emergency teams who responded to “carry out a large-scale search during a highly pressurised and distressing time”.

He also confirmed drone technology and boats were being used to “conduct a thorough search over a wide area”.

He added: “Our specialist officers are supporting Kaliyah’s family through this deeply upsetting time and our thoughts go out to all those impacted by what has happened.”

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“Equally we appreciate this has affected the wider community who have been extremely supportive. You will see extra officers in the area during the coming days.”

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On Monday, Kerry Benadjaoud, a 62-year-old resident from the area, said she heard of the incident from her next-door neighbour, who “was outside doing her garden and there was two little kids running, and they said ‘my friend’s in the water'”.

When she arrived at the scene with a life ring, a man told her he had called the police, “but he said at the time he could see her hands going down”.

Barge House Causeway is a concrete slope that goes directly into the River Thames and is used to transport boats.

Residents pointed out that it appeared to be covered in moss and was slippery.

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