Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky meets Starmer as UK to enter talks to join £78bn EU loan scheme for Kyiv – UK Times

Britain is set to enter talks to join the European Union’s £78bn loan ($106bn) to Ukraine, the ⁠government said on Sunday, in a further sign of deepening European defence ties under rising US pressure.

Prime minister Keir Starmer is expected on Monday to tell a summit in Armenia’s capital Yerevan of the European Political Community – a discussion forum set up ⁠after Russia’s invasion in 2022 – that Britain ​wants ⁠to work with the EU to support Ukraine in getting vital military equipment, his office said.

The loan, approved by the EU ⁠last month, is set to cover two-thirds of Ukraine’s needs for the ​next ⁠two years, with the bulk of ‌that amount earmarked for military spending as Kyiv defends itself against Russia’s four-year war.

The extra funding could also unlock opportunities for British businesses to ‌meet Ukraine’s urgent needs, particularly in the defence ‌sector, the government said in a statement.

“When the UK ​and the European Union work together, we all reap the ‌benefits — and in these volatile times ⁠we need to go further and faster on defence to keep ⁠people safe,” Starmer said in the statement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a series of reforms for the country’s armed forces via social media.

The changes, agreed in April and due to be finalised this month, are scheduled to come into effect in June.

Key reforms include increased pay for military personnel, based on combat experience and efficacy, with non-combat roles receiving at least 30,000 hryvnias.

Volodymyr Zelensky said that he had ⁠offered Finland to strengthen the two countries’ partnership ⁠by ​signing ⁠a drone deal, sharing technology ⁠and combat ​expertise ⁠developed during ‌the four-year war with Russia.

“Ukraine is ‌ready to ‌share its expertise and strengthen those ⁠who have been strengthening us since the very beginning of the full-scale invasion,” ‌Zelensky said ​after he ‌met ⁠with Finnish prime minister ⁠Petteri Orpo ‌in ​Yerevan.

He thanked Finland for providing an additional $300m for defence support to Ukraine.

Two people were killed after a Russian drone attacked a minibus in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, local officials said Saturday, in the latest barrage of civilian areas, a hallmark of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

Seven people were also wounded in the attack, regional head Oleksandr Prokudin said. Hours later Russia attacked another minibus in Kherson, wounding the driver, he said.

On Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, a Russian strike damaged port infrastructure in the city of Odesa. No casualties were reported.

Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked the King for his “strong words” on the defence of Ukraine during his state visit to the United States.

The Ukrainian president expressed his gratitude for the monarch’s comments in a meeting with Sir Keir Starmer in Armenia.

“Best regards and thanks to His Majesty for strong words in the United States supporting our people,” Mr Zelensky told the Prime Minister.

Ukraine on Sunday launched a wave of strikes against Russian oil targets, hitting a key loading port on the Baltic Sea and two tankers that Ukraine alleges were illegally used to transport Russian crude.

A nighttime drone strike sparked a blaze at Russia’s largest oil exporting port on the Baltic Sea, the port of Primorsk, according to Russian regional Gov. Alexander Drozdenko.

The port, operated by Russia’s state oil firm Transneft, is capable of handling hundreds of thousands of barrels per day. Primorsk, which was targeted multiple times in March, lies over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from Ukraine, between the Russian-Finnish border and Russia’s second-largest city of St. Petersburg.

World affairs editor Sam Kiley meets the founder of Ukraine’s ultranationalist Azov movement, Andrii Biletskyi, now a decorated military brigadier general holding Russia back on its most aggressive line of attack in Donetsk province:

Telephone signals abruptly collapse as we descend into a bunker at a secret location close to Ukraine’s front line with Russia, for a meeting with one of Kyiv’s most ambitious, controversial and successful military commanders.

Easily within reach of medium-range Russian drones and jets, the caution was routine. But it takes on added drama when it emerges that an alleged Ukrainian traitor, working with Russian intelligence, was recently in the area tracking the movements of Brigadier General Andrii Biletskyi.

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Germany’s defense minister on Saturday appeared to take in stride a Pentagon announcement that the United States plans to pull some 5,000 troops out of Germany, saying a drawdown was expected and emphasizing the mutual benefit of the longstanding U.S. deployment in Europe.

Boris Pistorius said Europe recognized and was acting on the necessity of doing more to ensure its own security within the U.S.-led NATO military alliance that counts Germany as a key member, and said it is doing so. He suggested America, too, gains from its military deployment in the continent.

“The presence of American soldiers in Europe, and especially in Germany, is in our interest and in the interest of the U.S.,” Pistorius told the German news agency dpa.