President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met British Prime Minister Andy Burnham on July 27 as he kicked off a key week of talks with officials around the world to bolster Ukraine's defenses amid a rising civilian death toll from Russian air strikes back home.
Zelenskyy became the first foreign leader hosted by Burnham since he took office one week ago following the resignation of fellow Labour Party member Keir Starmer.
The two leaders met at the Portsmouth Naval Base on England's southern coast as Burnham pledged his country's "unwavering" support for Kyiv as the war with Russia runs well into its fifth year.
Zelenskyy said being the first foreign leader to meet Burnham was "an important signal of support."
"We discussed our defense – for Ukraine, it is important to have sufficient capabilities to protect lives both in the sky and at sea," Zelenskyy wrote on social media after the meeting, adding the development of joint defense production was also touched upon.
Burnham and Zelenskyy were later scheduled to meet some of the 200 Ukrainian military personnel who have been in Britain the past three weeks participating in a maritime security and counter-mine exercise in preparation for potential future Black Sea missions.
'Stone Cloak' System
Burnham announced the sharing of the intellectual property behind Britain’s new Stone Cloak electronic warfare system, enabling Ukraine to produce the technology itself.
The jammers, the size of a tablet computer, can be used to prevent Russian air defenses from tracking and targeting drones when attached to the projectiles, officials said.
Downing Street pointed out that the United Kingdom's support for Ukraine has reached 25 billion pounds ($33 billion) since Russia's full-scale invasion of February 2022, including 16 billion pounds ($21 billion) in direct military assistance.
Following the London visit, Zelenskyy is scheduled to travel to Washington on July 28 for talks with US President Donald Trump.
Zelenskyy is also expected to attend the funeral of US Senator Lindsey Graham, who died earlier this month. The Republican lawmaker was a vocal Ukraine supporter and had traveled to Kyiv for meetings with Zelenskyy days before his death.
Russia, Ukraine Exchange Deadly Strikes
Five people, including a child, were killed and eight injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Rostov region, local officials reported on July 27.
Rostov Region Governor Yuri Slyusar said rescuers recovered bodies, two adults and one child, from the rubble of an apartment building hit by a drone, while emergency crews continue recovery operations and provide assistance to victims.
Zelenskyy in a post on X said that Ukraine's long-range strikes hit an export terminal in the Rostov region and oil facilities in the Yaroslavl and Udmurtia regions to reduce Russia's ability to finance the war.
"Last night, our long-range sanctions were effective in the Rostov region. An export terminal approximately 250 kilometers from the front line was hit. Deep strikes also targeted oil facilities in the Yaroslavl region and the Udmurt Republic, which is 1,300 kilometers from Ukraine's state border," Zelesnkyy wrote.
Meanwhile, the death toll continued to rise in Ukraine, with the capital, Kyiv, coming under a Russian ballistic missile attack on July 26, authorities said, while other regions suffered air strikes during the day that led to at least six deaths.
In the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, a Russian drone struck a supermarket, killing two people and wounding 25, Ukraine's emergency services said.
"This is deliberate Russian terror that has no military justification," Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.
Regional Governor Ivan Fedorov said a glide bomb attack killed one person and wounded six in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhya, which has been a frequent target of Russian bombardment.
In the frontline city of Slovyansk in Ukraine's Donetsk region, the Naftogaz oil and gas company said two of its employees were killed in a Russian attack while trying to help residents affected by an earlier air strike.
One person was killed and eight others were injured in a Russian strike on the town of Balakliya in Ukraine's Kharkiv region on July 27, regional authorities reported.
Russia denies targeting civilian areas despite widespread evidence of such attacks that have killed thousands of people since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
