LONDON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due in London on Tuesday for talks with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the British government said, as European countries look to keep international attention on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while the unfolding Iran war engages world leaders.
Starmer’s office said that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will also join the meeting at 10 Downing St. to discuss peacemaking efforts in Ukraine and “the need to maintain sanctions pressure on Russia.”
The meeting comes days after the U.S. temporarily waived some Russian oil sanctions in a bid to ease pressure on global supplies triggered by the war in the Middle East, which was sparked by the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran starting on Feb. 28.
Zelenskyy criticized Washington’s move to ease sanctions, saying it would provide a windfall for Moscow to keep up its attacks on Ukraine.
U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants to secure a peace deal that ends Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II and has rattled the continent’s leaders, who reckon that Russia could pose a credible security threat to the European Union by the end of the decade.
But U.S.-brokered talks between delegations from Moscow and Kyiv, which so far have yielded no significant progress on key issues, have lost momentum amid the Middle East conflict.
At the same time, Trump has spurned Zelenskyy’s offer of help for the United States and its Persian Gulf partners in fighting Iranian drones. Ukraine has become one of the world’s leading producers of high-tech, battle-tested drone interceptors.
British officials say that Russia and Iran are collaborating on drone technology and tactics in the Middle East. Drone combat experts from the U.K. and Ukraine have been sent to the region to help Iran’s neighbors repel its drone attacks.
Starmer’s office said the U.K. and Ukraine will sign a deal combining “Ukraine’s expertise and the U.K.’s industrial base to manufacture and supply drones and innovative capabilities.” Britain is also funding an “AI Center of Excellence” in conjunction with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
Starmer said in a statement that “drones, electronic warfare and rapid battlefield innovation are now central to national and economic security, and that has only been further magnified by the conflict in the Middle East.”
“By deepening our defense partnerships, we are strengthening Ukraine’s ability to defend itself from Russia’s brutal, ongoing attacks, while ensuring the U.K. and our allies are better prepared to meet the threats of the future.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its air defenses intercepted and destroyed 206 Ukrainian drones overnight over Russian regions, the annexed Crimean Peninsula and the Azov Sea. A total of 40 intercepted drones were flying towards Moscow, the ministry said.
Asked about an increase in Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow over the past few days, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the authorities in Kyiv were “continuing absolutely futile resistance” against Russia’s invasion.
Zelenskyy said late Monday that counterattacks by Ukrainian forces at eastern and southern points along the front line have wrecked Moscow’s plans for a March offensive.
His comments couldn’t be independently verified, but the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Monday that Ukrainian counterattacks “are likely constraining” some Russian offensive operations.
Ukraine’s air force said that Russia launched 178 long-range drones of various types across the country overnight starting late Monday, with 154 of them either intercepted or jammed while 22 more struck their targets.
In the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzhia, a Russian strike damaged a terminal of Ukraine’s biggest private delivery company, Nova Poshta, the company said on Telegram. Eight people were wounded, according to Ivan Fedorov, the head of the regional military administration.
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Illia Novikov contributed to this report from Kyiv, Ukraine.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
