Russia Ukraine war latest: Putin’s forces launch huge drone attack as Keir Starmer visits Kyiv – UK Times

Volodymyr Zelensky has said he and British prime minister Keir Starmer will discuss a plan proposed by French president Emmanuel Macron that would see troops from France and other Western countries stationed in Ukraine to oversee a ceasefire agreement.

Mr Zelensky has said any such proposal should go alongside a timeline for Ukraine to join Nato.

The alliance’s 32 member countries say that Ukraine will join one day, but not until after the war. Donald Trump has appeared to sympathise with Russian president Putin’s position that Ukraine should not be part of Nato.

Prime minister Keir Starmer is on his way to Ukraine today as he boarded a train to reach the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

Donning a black t-shirt, Sir Keir was seen being briefed by his military adviser ahead of the bilateral outreach to the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

On a gray and frosty morning, the British prime minister was greeted at Kyiv railway station by the UK ambassador to Ukraine, Martin Harris and Ukraine’s envoy to London, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

A major Russian gunpowder factory in the Tambov region was attacked, a Ukrainian official said today, without directly claiming responsibility or specifying the consequences of the attack.

“The enterprise is one of the main suppliers of explosive materials for the army of the Russian Federation,” Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s centre for countering disinformation, wrote on Telegram.

“With the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, production at the plant increased significantly,” he added.

British prime minister Keir Starmer is meeting president Volodymyr Zelensky to sign a “100-Year Partnership” treaty in Kyiv, covering areas including defence, science, energy and trade.

But what is behind the British pledge to the war-hit country?

Britain says the treaty is designed to offer a century of security assurances, and will help ensure Ukraine is “never again vulnerable to the kind of brutality inflicted on it by Russia”. Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and began a full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The deal commits the two sides to cooperate on defence – especially maritime security against Russian activity in the Baltic Sea, Black Sea and Sea of Azov – and on technology projects including drones, which have become vital weapons for both sides in the war.

The treaty also includes a system to help track stolen Ukrainian grain exported by Russia from occupied parts of the country.

The agreement will bolster military collaboration on maritime security and will bring together experts in areas including drone technology.

Prime minister Keir Starmer arrived in Ukraine today with a pledge to help guarantee the country’s security for a century, days before Donald Trump is sworn in as US president.

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

“Putin’s ambition to wrench Ukraine away from its closest partners has been a monumental strategic failure. Instead, we are closer than ever, and this partnership will take that friendship to the next level,” Mr Starmer said ahead of the visit.

“This is not just about the here and now, it is also about an investment in our two countries for the next century, bringing together technology development, scientific advances and cultural exchanges, and harnessing the phenomenal innovation shown by Ukraine in recent years for generations to come,” he said.

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 Zelensky in 10 Downing Street since becoming prime minister.

The US imposed hundreds of sanctions targeting Russia, seeking to increase pressure on Moscow in the Biden administration’s final days and protect some sanctions previously imposed.

The Treasury in a statement said Washington was imposing fresh sanctions on almost 100 critical Russian entities – including Russian banks and companies operating in Russia’s energy sector – that were previously sanctioned by the US. It said the move increases secondary sanctions risk for them.

The new sanctions will be difficult to reverse by the incoming Trump administration as they are issued under an executive order that a senior Treasury official said requires Congress to be notified before any of the actions can be reversed.

The US State and Treasury departments imposed sanctions on over 250 targets, including some based in China, taking aim at Russia’s evasion of US sanctions and its military industrial base.

As part of the action, the Treasury imposed new curbs on almost 100 entities that were already under sanctions, potentially complicating any future efforts to remove the measures.