Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks weapons supply with UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron


Simon Rushton
  • English
  • Arabic

Britain will maintain support for Ukraine “for however long it takes”, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said in Ukraine as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy looks for developments on the supply of weapons into his country.

Mr Cameron travelled to Odesa on the second day of his visit to the country, the British Foreign Office said on Thursday.

He made Ukraine his first international visit, in the same week that he was brought back to the corridors of British power, as fighting rages in Gaza.

President Zelenskyy said he was grateful for the visit as Ukraine presses for weapons with much of the world’s attention diverted to Gaza. He said he has been watching closely for any sign that western military support is flagging.

“The world is not so focused on the Russia situation in Ukraine, and this dividing of the focus really does not help,” he said.

Mr Zelenskyy told the former UK prime minister that it is “a pity” that some attention has been distracted from Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Mr Cameron said: “We will continue to give you the moral support, the diplomatic support, the economic support, but above all the military support that you need – not just this year and next year, but for however long it takes.

“I had some disagreements with my friend Boris Johnson, we've known each other for 40 years, and his support for you was the finest thing that he and his governments did.”

Mr Cameron was updated on Ukraine's counter-offensive against Russia and held talks on Kyiv's aspirations to join Nato.

Mr Zelenskyy said: “We had a good meeting focused on weapons for the frontline, strengthening air defence, and protecting our people and critical infrastructure. I am grateful to the UK for its support.”

Mr Cameron was prime minister between 2010 and 2016. He was brought back into the Cabinet on Monday.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he and Mr Cameron held talks at his ministry.

“The UK remains steadfast in providing Ukraine with weapons, increasing their co-production, and ridding the Black Sea of Russian threats,” he posted on X.

Ukraine is trying to build up a Black Sea shipping corridor to revive its seaborne exports, defying threats after Moscow left a UN-brokered deal in July that had allowed some food exports to be transported.

Mr Cameron also became the first British minister to visit the Black Sea port of Odesa since Russia's invasion.

"Russia thinks it can wait this war out, and that the West will eventually turn its attention elsewhere. This could not be further from the truth," he said.

"I made clear that the UK and our partners will support Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes for them to achieve victory. As winter approaches, we continue to stand with the Ukrainian people as they resist Putin's illegal invasion.

"In the last three months, they have pushed Russia back in the Black Sea and are opening vital sea trade routes for the Ukrainian economy and global food supplies."

He announced financial support for people affected by the war in Ukraine – £10 million ($12.45 million) to Ukraine's Red Cross Society, £7 million to a consortium led by Nonviolent Peaceforce and £1.4 million to Mercy Corps.

David Cameron appointed UK Foreign Secretary – in pictures

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Specs

Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request

Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home. 

Updated: November 16, 2023, 1:56 PM`