UK’s Starmer arrives in Ukraine for security talks with a pledge for a ’100-year partnership’

British PM Keir Starmer pledges 100-year partnership with Ukraine amid concerns over U.S. support under Trump presidency.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Ukraine's capital on Thursday (January 16, 2025) with a pledge to help guarantee the country’s security for a century, days before Donald Trump is sworn in as U.S. president.

The British government says Mr. Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will sign a “100-Year Partnership” treaty in Kyiv covering areas including defense, science, energy and trade.

Mr. Starmer’s unannounced visit is his first trip to Ukraine since he took office in July. He visited the country in 2023 when he was opposition leader, and has twice held talks with Mr. Zelenskyy in London since becoming prime minister.

On a gray and frosty morning, Starmer was greeted at Kyiv railway station by the U.K. ambassador to Ukraine, Martin Harris, and Ukraine’s envoy to London, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

The U.K., one of Ukraine’s biggest military backers, has pledged 12.8 billion pounds ($16 billion) in military and civilian aid since Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago, and has trained more than 50,000 Ukrainian troops on British soil. Mr. Starmer is to announce another 40 million pounds ($49 million) for Ukraine’s postwar economic recovery.

But the U.K.’s role is dwarfed by that of the United States, and there is deep uncertainty over the fate of American support for Ukraine once Trump takes office on Jan. 20. The president-elect has balked at the cost of U.S. aid to Kyiv, says he wants to bring the war to a swift end and is planning to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, for whom he has long expressed admiration.

Kyiv’s allies have rushed to flood Ukraine with as much support as possible before Trump’s inauguration, with the aim of putting Ukraine in the strongest position possible for any future negotiations to end the war.