Fresh from his first meeting as British prime minister with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L), Andy Burnham said Monday he would use an upcoming meeting of the United Nation’s General Assembly to try to get other world leaders share more of their anti-ballistic missile interceptors with Ukraine. Photo by Stringer/EPA
Aug. 25 (UPI) — British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he would likely attend a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September to join other European leaders to try to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to supply Ukraine with Patriot air defense missiles.
Burnham brought forward what will be his first trip states-side since taking over as prime minister from Keir Starmer in July after visiting Kyiv on Monday where he said Britain would allow Ukraine to build Storm Shadow cruise missiles in Ukraine and do everything he could to bolster the country’s air defenses.
“I’ve not fully confirmed the details yet but it’s likely I will go, particularly after today’s discussion. Leaving today, I’m quite clear what I need to do in the next few weeks,” said Burnham.
Traveling to the annual UNGA meeting would allow to him to meet face-to-face on the sidelines with a bunch of world leaders he’s never previously met all in place, including the prospect of a meeting with Trump.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been lobbying hard for western partners to break out their reserve stocks of Patriot interceptor missiles amid nightly Russian missile strikes on Ukraine in recent weeks that have killed and injured hundreds of people, with Russia taking advantage of a severe shortage of the U.S.-made system.
Burnham expressed confidence that the issue could be solved, not by Britain on its own, but by working in partnership with its allies.
“There are other players who could help in the mix who we have influence with. It’s probably going to be a solution that involves a lot of layers and a lot of negotiation,” he said.
Burnham’s comments came as former Russian deputy foreign minister Andrei Fedorov doubled down on Kremlin threats that missile factories in Ukraine would be targeted by Russian forces, raising the prospect of “semi military” retaliation by “unknown sources” against U.K. drone factories.
“It could take the form of something might happen with enterprises, with factories which are producing drones for Ukraine. They could be attacked not by Russia, but by from unknown sources,” Fedorov told the BBC.
He said that Putin was under “serious” pressure from Russian public opinion polls and the media “to undertake certain measures against the U.K.”
Fedorov’s comments came days after Russia warned Britain of “consequences” following reports that Ukraine had attacked targets on Russian territory with drones provided by London and made by British companies.
The Russian Embblocky in London accused Britain of escalating the war with Ukraine by providing the weaponry while “hypocritically professing a desire for peace.”
Britain has been supplying Ukraine with drones for years, helping Kyiv hold its own against a larger and more powerful adversary with the U.K. Ministry of Defense announcing in June plans to surge drone deliveries to Ukraine to least 150,000 by the end of this year, up from the 120,000 it initially promised in April.
