Geopolitics · UB-029
Burnham hosts Zelensky as the UK speeds up air-defence missiles for Ukraine
Published 15-10-2026 · UB-029 · 🇬🇧🇺🇦 · ✓ 5 linked sources
Volodymyr Zelensky, 2022. Photo: Press Service of the President of Ukraine / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0Zelensky's second UK visit since Burnham took office comes amid strain in UK–US relations over Washington's Russian diesel deal.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Downing Street on 14-10-2026, as the UK announced it would deliver air-defence missiles to Kyiv faster, BBC News reported. It is Zelensky's second visit to the UK since Burnham became prime minister in July.
The plan speeds up deliveries of British Lightweight Multirole Missiles (LMMs). The UK had already committed to send more than 5,000 of them, worth £1.6bn, over four years. Burnham was also expected to set out how his government would prepare further sanctions on Russia.
The UK said £10 million of a £45 million air-defence package would be used to speed up deliveries of LMMs, which it says have proved effective against jet-powered drones, for Ukraine's most urgent winter needs, the Kyiv Independent reported. At Prime Minister's Questions the same day, Burnham offered what he called unwavering support for Ukraine and described this as a very dark and difficult moment for Zelensky, but declined to criticise Trump directly, saying his role was to repair bridges so that US support returns, The National reported.
The visit followed what Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband described as a very difficult few days for UK–US relations, after President Donald Trump eased sanctions on Russian diesel. Zelensky has called the US move a gift to President Vladimir Putin.
It also came hours after Russian missiles and drones hit Kyiv and the Kharkiv region overnight, killing three people in the capital and leaving at least 600,000 people without power, Reuters reported.