On Wednesday, 5 February, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha welcomed David Lammy, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Development of the United Kingdom, in Kyiv.

The key topic of the talks was the practical implementation of the historic 100-Year Partnership Agreement between Ukraine and the United Kingdom, signed recently by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

During the talks, the diplomats discussed further military assistance to Ukraine, raising the cost of war for the aggressor, strengthening Ukraine's defence capabilities and resilience, and increasing sanctions pressure on Russia. The parties agreed that the only realistic way to end the Russian aggression is to implement the ‘peace through strength’ concept.

Andrii Sybiha expressed deep gratitude to the UK for announcing a new £55-million support package for Ukraine.

‘This funding for social, humanitarian and energy programs will strengthen our resilience, and this assistance is very timely,’ the Minister pointed out.

The Foreign Minister also thanked the UK for training several tens of thousands of Ukrainian servicemen under the Interflex program and discussed with his counterpart the possibility of its expansion. The diplomats paid special attention to the development of the defence industry, in particular the expansion of Ukraine's long-range capabilities.

‘The priority is the production of drones, which play an important role in modern combat operations. I urged the British side to scale up investments in the Ukrainian arms production,' the Minister noted.

The Foreign Minister said the parties agreed on the need to continue using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine. The funds from the UK loan of more than two billion pounds received from these assets will be used in the near future.

The heads of Ukrainian and British diplomacy paid special attention to joint work to strengthen Syria's food security and the implementation of the Food from Ukraine initiative. Andrii Sybiha expressed gratitude to the British side for a £3 million contribution to the development of this program.