Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with King Charles III and expressed his gratitude over UK’s unwavering support for Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president met with the King on Monday, June 8, at Windsor Castle during his UK visit for talks with the European leaders.
According to The Guardian, Zelenskyy and the leaders of the UK, France and Germany discussed “the urgent need to scale up” Ukraine’s air defences and deep-strike capabilities in London on Sunday night, after Russia fired hypersonic weapons at Ukraine, Downing Street said.
The meeting of Ukraine’s staunchest allies in London came hours after a Russian drone strike damaged a storage centre for spent nuclear fuel nine miles from the Chornobyl nuclear power plant.
Keir Starmer welcomed Zelenskyy, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz for a meeting to discuss ongoing support for Ukraine as the country seeks to capitalise on a series of strikes on key Russian positions.
A government spokesperson said the leaders discussed “the urgent need to scale up the production of interceptors and co-develop anti-ballistic missile and deep strike capabilities” after Russia fired Oreshnik weapons at Ukraine.
The leaders condemned Russia’s large-scale missile and drone attacks and called on the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to agree “an immediate and complete ceasefire” with the current line of contact as a starting point for negotiations, Downing Street said.
Leaders will now look to the G7 summit at Evian on 15 June to drum up more support for Ukraine and push for further economic sanctions and “an increased pledge of military and defence support for Ukraine at the Nato summit” in July.
Starmer and the Ukrainian president continued talks for about half an hour after the departure of Macron and Merz, before shaking hands and briefly posing for photographs outside No 10 on Sunday evening.
