Burnham’s visit to Kyiv marks a renewal of badly needed support for Ukraine

Since moving into Downing Street in July, Andy Burnham – a foreign policy neophyte – has expressed strong support for Ukraine. But on Monday he saw the bitter human cost of the war up close for the first time, visiting Kyiv during his first international trip as prime minister. The occasion was the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave awards to the families of fallen soldiers. Relatives wept, hugging Ukraine’s president. Photos of young men in their prime were shown on a giant screen.

The setting was St Sophia cathedral in the old heart of the Ukrainian capital. Built in the 11th century, the building predates Moscow and is a symbol of Ukraine’s ancient statehood. Next to it were modern weapons used by Kyiv in its struggle against Russia including quadcopter drones and unmanned land robots.

In a speech in front of other western leaders, Burnham compared Ukraine’s fight to that waged by Britain during the darkest days of the second world war. Like other high-profile visitors, Burnham arrived with a gift. Since 2023 the UK and France has been providing Kyiv with long-range Storm Shadow or Scalp (as the French version is known) cruise missiles, used to knock out Russian naval ships and command centres.

It was now handing over British blueprints for key components, Burnham said, so Ukraine could eventually make its own version with France. More Storm Shadows could go some way to dealing with Ukraine’s biggest problem – the wave of ballistic missiles fired by Russia that rain down on Kyiv and other cities most nights. As of now, Ukraine has run out of US-made Patriotic interceptors capable of shooting them down.

The Trump administration is disinclined to provide more. The British cruise missiles carry a larger payload than the long-range drones favoured by Kyiv. They could be used to destroy enemy ballistic missile launch systems, which can be quickly moved, and are dotted around sites in western Russia.