Speaking after he chaired a coalition of the willing meeting that included Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz, Mr Burnham decried “desperate” Russian “threats” against the UK for its support for Kyiv.
“It just shows that what we are doing is having an impact and we should stand firm together,” he said.
The meeting covered “systematic and escalating strikes” on Ukraine, stricter sanctions on Moscow, increased military support for Kyiv and preparations for a “multinational force” to deploy upon a “credible cessation of hostilities”, alongside other topics, according to a German government statement.
The Prime Minister announced that the UK would “dig into our own stocks of air defence and support others digging into their own stocks” to protect Ukraine’s skies amid intensified aerial bombardments by Moscow.
European countries would also continue work on Project Freya, a pan-European anti-ballistic missile defence initiative, which hopes to have its first prototype by mid-2027, he said.
Burnham issues ‘clear message’ to Russia
“It’s clear Russia is running out of options so Putin is hoping he can win through a campaign of terror using ballistic missiles against Ukrainian civilians,” Mr Burnham said.
“This can never be the route to victory, we need to be clear in sending that message today.”
However, Mr Zelensky, who in recent weeks has repeatedly appealed to the US for stocks of their Patriot anti-missile interceptors, said his country would need 300 of the munitions for the winter.
Without explicitly naming the US, Mr Burnham said the coalition was “working with our allies outside of this coalition” to resolve the issue, arguing Ukraine “needs more help to protect its people right now”.
Patriots are the only weapon in Kyiv’s arsenal capable of downing ballistic missiles, which are extremely fast and have an unpredictable trajectory, but Washington has halted transfers amid severe shortages and has declined to provide production licences to the war-torn country.