{"id":29944,"date":"2026-08-18T11:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T11:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/29944\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T11:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T11:47:11","slug":"burnham-says-he-backs-ukraine-100-after-moscows-threat-over-use-of-uk-drones-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/29944\/","title":{"rendered":"Burnham says he backs Ukraine 100% after Moscow\u2019s threat over use of UK drones \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said the UK is continuing to \u201csupport Ukraine 100%\u201d after Moscow threatened consequences for the reported use of British drones for strikes deep into Russia.<\/p>\n

Russia accused the UK of deliberately escalating the conflict and said the deeper the country\u2019s involvement became, \u201cthe higher the price it will pay\u201d.<\/p>\n

During a visit to Wolverhampton bus station, Mr Burnham was asked what his message to Russian President Vladimir Putin was in response.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThis is the UK doing what it has long said it would do, which is to support Ukraine 100% against this illegal war led by Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n

\"Pilot<\/a>\"Permission<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are providing support so that Ukraine can defend itself, and that\u2019s been the British position all the way through this conflict by previous prime ministers. It remains the case with me.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not fair-weather friends. We will be there in Ukraine\u2019s hour of need, and that won\u2019t change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ukraine used drones made by two UK companies as part of a so-called deep strike campaign, the Sunday Times reported.<\/p>\n

Kyiv has stepped up its attacks on Russia this year, with long-range missiles and swarms of drones increasingly targeting military industries and energy facilities.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Ministry of Defence underlined its support for Ukraine\u2019s actions (Kirsty O’Connor\/PA) <\/p>\n

It has also targeted giant depots for Wildberries \u2013 Russia\u2019s largest online retailer \u2013 burning billions of pounds of merchandise and bringing the war home to the Russian public more than four years into Moscow\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s embassy to the UK said in a statement on Monday that the reports \u201cconfirm that London is deliberately opting for an escalation of the Ukraine crisis\u201d and accused Britain of \u201cseeking to contain Russia and inflict maximum damage on it by proxy\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cLondon\u2019s actions will inevitably carry consequences for which it will have to answer,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe deeper its involvement in the conflict and the greater its support for Kyiv\u2019s terrorist machinery, the higher the price it will pay.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: \u201cBritain stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine and we are committed to providing the equipment Ukraine needs to defend itself against Putin\u2019s illegal invasion.<\/p>\n

\u201cRussia should be in no doubt about the resolve of this Government to stand against Russian aggression, in Ukraine and against the UK and our allies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MoscowMoscow has warned of consequences for the UK (Owen Humphreys\/PA) <\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s strategy of long-range drone strikes is believed to be aimed at cutting Moscow\u2019s revenue for the war and making Russian citizens feel the impact of the invasion.<\/p>\n

It launched three times as many of those strikes in July as it did in January, according to data from Acled, an independent conflict monitor.<\/p>\n

Repeatedly hitting deep into Russia has forced its military to stretch air defences over a larger area.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that it had shot down 598 Ukrainian drones over 19 Russian regions, as well as the Black and Azov Seas and the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.<\/p>\n

Officials on Monday said Ukrainian long-range attacks on Russia killed seven people overnight, while five civilians died in Ukraine after strikes by Moscow\u2019s forces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said the UK is continuing to \u201csupport Ukraine 100%\u201d after Moscow threatened consequences…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4472,237,79,25,473,26],"class_list":["post-29944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-andy-burnham","tag-drones","tag-politics","tag-russia","tag-uk","tag-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}