October 24, 2025
UK’s Starmer to call on Europe to back Kyiv with long-range weapons
The United Kingdom is set to host a meeting of Ukraine’s European allies in London on Friday, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer expected to urge the so-called coalition of the willing to provide Kyiv with more long-range missiles.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is heading to London to attend the talks as Western pressure continues to mount on Moscow to end the full-scale invasion it launched in February 2022.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, as well as the NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, are set to attend the meeting in person.
A further 20 leaders will join the meeting remotely, Downing Street said.
As the conflict enters its fourth winter, the European Union and the US this week announced fresh sanctions targeting Russia’s energy sector.
In a statement, Downing Street said the meeting in London on Friday afternoon comes with Russian President Vladimir Putin proving “yet again that he is not serious about” peace, pointing to the fact that the Kremlin chief had failed to “engage” with US President Donald Trump’s most recent proposals for “meaningful talks” in Budapest.
Trump shelved those plans last week, saying he didn’t want a meeting with Putin “to be a waste of time.”
At Friday’s meeting, Starmer is expected to urge the leaders of Ukraine’s allies to put Kyiv in the “strongest possible position going into winter” by removing Russian oil and gas from the global market, unlock billions in frozen Russian assets to help fund Ukraine’s defense, boost its long-range capabilities and help protect Ukraine’s energy infrastructure from Russian attacks.
“Time and again we offer Putin the chance to end his needless invasion, to stop the killing and recall his troops, but he repeatedly rejects those proposals and any chance of peace,” Starmer said.
“From the battlefield to the global markets, as Putin continues to commit atrocities in Ukraine we must ratchet up the pressure on Russia and build on President Trump’s decisive action,” the UK leader added.
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