{"id":654496,"date":"2026-08-24T21:30:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T21:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/654496\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T21:30:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T21:30:30","slug":"burnham-challenges-putin-on-first-trip-to-ukraine-as-uk-russia-tensions-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/654496\/","title":{"rendered":"Burnham challenges Putin on first trip to Ukraine as UK-Russia tensions grow"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Prime minister Andy Burnham<\/a> has hit out at Russian president Vladimir Putin <\/a>during his first state visit to Kyiv, amid mounting tensions between Moscow and London. <\/p>\n

The British leader chaired his first meeting of the so-called \u201ccoalition of the willing\u201d to emphasise Britain\u2019s continued support for Ukraine<\/a> through the provision of long-range SCALP missile blueprints.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov<\/a> said that the move would add \u201cfuel to the fire\u201d and \u201cprevent any progress in the peace process\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWho started the fire? That\u2019s the question, isn\u2019t it?\u201d Mr Burnham hit back in an address to Ukraine\u2019s European allies on Monday. <\/p>\n

\u201cPutin is now hoping he can win through a campaign of terror using ballistic missiles against Ukrainian civilians. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis can never be the route to victory, and we need to be clear in sending that message. It means doing everything we can all do, and working with our allies as well, beyond this coalition, to dig into our own stocks of air defence… to protect Ukraine from the missiles that are falling now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ukraine\u2019sUkraine\u2019s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy (right) greets Britain\u2019s prime minister Andy Burnham during a ceremony to mark Independence Day in Kyiv (AP)<\/p>\n

Mr Zelensky<\/a> and Mr Burnham both delivered speeches outside Kyiv\u2019s St Sofia cathedral on the anniversary of the country\u2019s 35th year of independence. <\/p>\n

\u201cDespite Russia\u2019s outrageous threats to my country, we will continue our support for Ukraine,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The prime minister compared Ukraine\u2019s battle with Russia to the British fight against Nazi Germany, saying: \u201cMy nation kept the flame of European freedom alive in the 20th century; you hold that flame in the 21st.\u201d<\/p>\n

It marked his first foray on the international stage, heading the coalition of the willing group of 34 countries set up by his predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, in support of Ukraine. <\/p>\n

Tensions between London and Moscow have been mounting for weeks as it emerged over the weekend that Russia had withdrawn its ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, last month after seven years in the diplomatic post. <\/p>\n

The lower-ranking charge d\u2019affaires has taken the lead in his absence, according to an embassy spokesperson talking to The Times. <\/p>\n

\"PresidentPresident Zelensky has warned his country faces a tough winter without further support from allies (Reuters)<\/p>\n

The latest announcement of support by Mr Burnham means that the British government has agreed to allow defence firm MBDA to release classified information and blueprints on UK components for the long-range SCALP missile. The weapons are the equivalent of the French-produced version of the UK\u2019s Storm Shadow. <\/p>\n

Last Tuesday, it was reported that British-made drones had been used in Ukraine, prompting Moscow to threaten \u201cconsequences\u201d for the support. It warned ominously that the greater the assistance that Britain provided, \u201cthe higher price it will pay\u201d. <\/p>\n

At the time, Mr Burnham doubled down, saying: \u201cThis is the UK doing what it has long said it would do, which is to support Ukraine 100 per cent against this illegal war led by Vladimir Putin<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The European Commission, meanwhile, has approved a further \u20ac6.1bn (\u00a35.2bn) in financial aid for Ukraine, to be spent on buying defence systems, including air defence, missiles, ammunition and radars.<\/p>\n

\"PutinPutin has warned that the UK will suffer \u2018consequences\u2019 for supporting Ukraine (Reuters)<\/p>\n

The latest aid package came after \u20ac16bn of previously approved procurement plans, of which \u20ac8.35bn had already been disbursed, according to the EU. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs Russia intensifies its attacks, we are stepping up to help Ukraine protect its people and defend its skies. Europe stands with Ukraine and we will deliver what it needs, when it needs it,\u201d EC president Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.<\/p>\n

In other developments in the war, Russian attacks killed three people near Kharkiv overnight on Sunday, according to the region\u2019s governor, while Moscow claimed debris from a Ukrainian drone killed two children in Russia\u2019s Krasnodar. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[37363,9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,276657,7,8,6618],"class_list":["post-654496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-andy-burnham","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-russia-ukraine-war-britain","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117152621752363235","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}