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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.

Starmer
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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


Jon Craig - Chief political correspondent

Jon Craig

Chief political correspondent

@joncraig

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.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shake hands after meeting Ukrainian troops being trained to command Challenger 2 tanks at a military facility in Lulworth, Dorset. Picture date: Wednesday February 8, 2023.
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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”.

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Four more arrests made over Louvre heist as £76m haul remains missing

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Four more arrests made over Louvre heist as £76m haul remains missing

Four more arrests have been made by French police investigating the Louvre museum heist.

Two men and two women from the Paris region were detained on Tuesday, prosecutor Laure Beccuau said.

Ms Beccuau’s statement did not say what role the quartet are suspected of having played in the robbery. The two men are aged 38 and 39, and the two women are aged 31 and 40.

They are being interrogated by police, who can hold them for questioning for 96 hours.

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Louvre: How ‘heist of the century’ unfolded

The latest arrests come after investigating magistrates filed preliminary charges against three men and one woman who were arrested last month.

Some of the French Crown Jewels, worth an estimated £76m, were stolen in the audacious October raid.

The haul – which included a diamond and emerald necklace Napoleon gave to Empress Marie-Louise, jewels linked to 19th-century Queens Marie-Amelie and Hortense, and Empress Eugenie’s pearl and diamond tiara – has not been recovered.

The heist was pulled off in mere minutes last month – and took place while the Louvre was open to visitors, raising doubts over the credibility of the world’s most-visited museum as a guardian for its priceless works.

On Sunday 19 October, two men used a stolen furniture lift to access the second floor Galerie d’Apollon.

They then cracked open display cases with angle grinders before escaping with their loot and fleeing on the back of two scooters driven by accomplices.

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Moment thieves escape Louvre in jewel heist

The Paris prosecutor previously said the robbery appeared to be the work of small-time criminals rather than professional gangsters.

Speaking shortly after the heist, art detective Arthur Brand told Sky News that detectives faced a “race against time” to recover the stolen treasure.

“These crown jewels are so famous, you just cannot sell them,” Mr Brand said. “The only thing they can do is melt the silver and gold down, dismantle the diamonds, try to cut them. That’s the way they will probably disappear forever.

“They [the police] have a week. If they catch the thieves, the stuff might still be there. If it takes longer, the loot is probably gone and dismantled. It’s a race against time.”

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Zelenskyy is racing to beat Donald Trump’s peace plan deadline – but what will Russia do?

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Zelenskyy is racing to beat Donald Trump's peace plan deadline – but what will Russia do?

Washington woke up this morning to a flurry of developments on Ukraine.

It was the middle of the night in DC when a tweet dropped from Ukraine’s national security advisor, Rustem Umerov.

He said that the US and Ukraine had reached a “common understanding on the core terms of the agreement discussed in Geneva.”

He added that Volodymyr Zelenskyy would travel to America “at the earliest suitable date in November to complete final steps and make a deal with President Trump”.

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By sunrise in Washington, a US official was using similar but not identical language to frame progress.

The official, speaking anonymously to US media, said that Ukraine had “agreed” to Trump’s peace proposal “with some minor details to be worked out”.

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In parallel, it’s emerged that talks have been taking place in Abu Dhabi. The Americans claim to have met both Russian and Ukrainian officials there, though the Russians have not confirmed attendance.

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Peace deal ‘agreement’: What we know

“I have nothing to say. We are following the media reports,” Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, told Russian state media.

Trump is due to travel to his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago tonight, where he will remain until Sunday.

He set a deadline of Thursday – Thanksgiving – for some sort of agreement on his plan.

We know the plan has been changed from its original form, but it’s clear that Zelenskyy wants to be seen to agree to something quickly – that would go down well with President Trump.

Read more:
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In full: Europe’s 28-point counter proposal

My sense is that Zelenskyy will try to get to Mar-a-Lago as soon as he can. Before Thursday would be a push but would meet Trump’s deadline.

It will then be left for the Russians to state their position on the revised document.

All indications are that they will reject it. But maybe the secret Abu Dhabi talks will yield something.

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Controversial US and Israeli-backed aid operation the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to close

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Controversial US and Israeli-backed aid operation the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to close

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial US and Israeli-backed aid distribution group, has said it will permanently cease operations.

Set up as an alternative to United Nations aid programmes in May, GHF’s executive director John Acree said on Monday that it “succeeded in our mission of showing there’s a better way to deliver aid to Gazans”.

The foundation had already closed down aid distribution sites after US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan was agreed by Hamas and Israel in October.

The GHF which began operations in Gaza after an Israeli blockade of food deliveries, lasting nearly three months, was criticised by Palestinians, aid workers and health officials who said it forced people to risk their lives to reach the sites.

File pic: Reuters
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File pic: Reuters

According to witnesses and videos posted to social media, Israeli soldiers repeatedly opened fire at the sites, killing hundreds. The IDF denied this, saying it only fired warning shots as a crowd-control measure or if its troops were in danger.

In July, analysis from Sky News’ Data and Forensics team found that aid distributions by GHF were associated with a significant increase in deaths.

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Gaza deaths increase when aid sites open

MSF – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said in a report in August that the GHF sites “morphed into a laboratory of cruelty,” and described scenes there as “orchestrated killing”.

More on Gaza

‘We are proud,’ says GHF director

Mr Acree said in a statement through the GHF’s website that “from the outset, GHF’s goal was to meet an urgent need” and to hand over a successful aid operation to “the broader international community”.

The GHF would hand over its work to the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center in Israel overseeing the Gaza ceasefire.

“We are winding down our operations as we have succeeded in our mission of showing there’s a better way to deliver aid to Gazans,” Mr Acree said.

File pic: Reuters
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File pic: Reuters

The GHF director added: “At a critical juncture, we are proud to have been the only aid operation that reliably and safely provided free meals directly to Palestinian people in Gaza, at scale and without diversion.

“From our very first day of operations, our mission was singular: feed civilians in desperate need. We built a new model that worked, saved lives, and restored dignity to civilians in Gaza.”

According to the GHF website, the group distributed more than three million food boxes, totalling 187 million meals, and supplied 1.1 million packs of Ready-to-Use Supplementary Food (RUSF) for malnourished children.

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Hamas welcomes GHF closure

In a statement, Hamas welcomed the closure of GHF and accused it of being a project that “engineered starvation” in partnership with Israel.

A Hamas spokesperson said: “Since its entry into the Gaza Strip, this foundation was part of the occupation’s security system, which adopted distribution mechanisms entirely disconnected from humanitarian principles, and created dangerous and degrading conditions for the dignity of the starving Palestinian people during their attempts to obtain a piece of bread, resulting in the killing and injury of thousands, through sniper operations and deliberate killing.”

They also called on international legal bodies to hold “this foundation and its officers accountable for their crimes against our people”.

US state department deputy spokesperson Tommy Piggot also said on X that the aid group “shared valuable lessons learned with us and our partners”.

“GHF’s model, in which Hamas could no longer loot and profit from stealing aid, played a huge role in getting Hamas to the table and achieving a ceasefire,” he added.

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