British PM Sunak makes surprise trip to Ukraine

KYIV: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised 125 anti-aircraft guns and other air-defence technology as he made an unannounced visit – his first – to Ukraine’ss now-blanketed capital for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The air defence package, which Britain valued at £50mil (Rm275mil), comes as Russia has been pounding Ukraine’s power grid and other key infrastructure from the air, causing widespread blackouts for millions of Ukrainians amid frigid weather.

The package includes radar and other technology to counter the Iran-supplied exploding drones that Russia has used against Ukrainian targets. It comes on top of a delivery of more than 1,000 anti-air missiles that Britain announced earlier this month.

The United Kingdom has been one of the staunchest Western backers of Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s invasion.

Speaking alongside Zelenskyy on Saturday, Sunak noted that the United Kingdom had given £2.3bil (Rm12.65bil) in military aid and pledged: “We will do the same again next year.”

“Your homes, your hospitals, your power stations are being destroyed,” Sunak said.

“You and your people are paying a heavy price in blood.”

Speaking through a translator, Zelenskyy said Russian strikes had damaged around half of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

As snowflakes fell, Zelenskyy greeted Sunak at a presidential palace for their talks and called the two countries “the strongest of allies”.

Walking in the snow, they also inspected captured Russian tanks and other destroyed and rusting military hardware used by the invasion forces that were displayed in a Kyiv square.

“With friends like you by our side, we are confident in our victory. Both of our nations know what it means to stand up for freedom,” the Ukrainian leader said on Twitter.