Ukraine war live updates: UK gives Ukraine long-range attack drones as Zelenskyy makes surprise trip to Britain

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has welcomed his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy to his countryside residence in a surprise visit by the president.

The British government is expected to “confirm the further U.K. provision of hundreds of air defence missiles and further unmanned aerial systems including hundreds of new long-range attack drones with a range of over 200km,” or 124 miles.

“These will all be delivered over the coming months as Ukraine prepares to intensify its resistance to the ongoing Russian invasion,” Downing Street said in a statement.

During their meeting today at the prime minister’s official countryside residence Chequers, Sunak will discuss with Zelenskyy what support Ukraine needs from the international community, both in terms of immediate military equipment and long-term defenses, the government said.

Zelenskyy’s trip to today comes after the Ukrainian president’s tour of several European capitals in recent days as he tries to win more military support ahead of the country’s much-vaunted counteroffensive in Ukraine.

“This is a crucial moment in Ukraine’s resistance to a terrible war of aggression they did not choose or provoke,” Sunak said in a statement.

“We must not let them down. The frontlines of Putin’s war of aggression may be in Ukraine but the fault lines stretch all over the world. It is in all our interest to ensure Ukraine succeeds and Putin’s barbarism is not rewarded,” he added.

The U.K. is one of Ukraine’s largest military supporters, providing masses of military hardware including armored vehicles, tanks and ammunition as well as training to thousands of Ukrainian soldiers. The U.K. said it had provided £2.3 billion ($2.9 billion) worth of military support to Ukraine in 2022 — more than any country other than the U.S.

Last week, the U.K. donated long-range Storm Shadow precision missiles to Ukraine which it said could be “critical in helping the country defend against the relentless bombardment of their critical national infrastructure.”

The government also hinted it could be galvanizing support among Ukraine’s allies to get fighter jets to Kyiv after repeated requests by Ukraine.

Britain will launch “an elementary flying phase for cohorts of Ukrainian pilots to learn basic training” this summer and said “this will adapt the programme used by U.K. pilots to provide Ukrainians with piloting skills they can apply a different kind of aircraft.”

“This training goes hand in hand with U.K. efforts to work with other countries on providing F16 jets – Ukraine’s fighter jets of choice,” the government said.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to visit British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday.

“Today — London. The U.K. is leading the way when it comes to expanding our capabilities on the ground and in the air,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram as he announced the surprise visit.

“This cooperation will continue today. I will meet my friend Rishi. We will conduct substantive negotiations face-to-face and in delegations.”

Zelenskyy has met with other European leaders in recent days as he tries to drum up more military support for Ukraine as it prepares to launch a counteroffensive. The U.K., one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters, said last week that it would supply Kyiv with long-range missiles.

— Holly Ellyatt

The defense of Bakhmut continues and recent days have shown that Ukraine can move forward and counter the Russian forces there, the commander of Ukrainian ground forces Colonel general Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Monday.

“The advance of our troops along the Bakhmut direction — that is the first successful offensive operation in the city’s defence,” Syrskyi, was quoted as saying on Ukraine’s Media Military Centre Telegram messaging platform.

“The last few days have shown that we can move forward and destroy the enemy even in such extremely difficult conditions … The operation to defend Bakhmut continues. All necessary decisions for the defence have been made.”

— Reuters

Ukraine claimed more gains in the besieged and largely ruined town of Bakhmut in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Telegram Sunday that Ukrainian forces “continue to move forward in the Bakhmut sector in the suburbs.”

“Today our units captured more than ten enemy positions in the north and south of Bakhmut’s outskirts and cleared a large area of forest near Ivanivske. Enemy soldiers from different units were captured,” she said in comments translated by NBC, saying the gains had been made “against all odds.”

“Anyone who knows the real situation and is there now understands the urgency of the situation. This is when 1 meter is worth 10 kilometers in terms of difficulty of executing tasks,” she said, adding that Ukrainian fighters there were “acting on the verge of superhuman capabilities.”

Describing the situation in Bakhmut as “very hot,” Maliar said Russia had “gathered all its forces there and is trying to advance, destroying everything in its path” and that fierce battles continue.

Fighting has been raging in Bakhmut for months between Ukrainian forces and mainly mercenary fighters belonging to the Wagner Group, descending in recent months into a bloody stalemate.

In recent days, however, Ukraine appears to have redoubled efforts to push Russian forces out of parts of the town they’ve been occupying.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Sunday evening that Ukraine’s forces had made “made massive attempts to break through the defenses of our troops” to the north and south of Bakhmut while Russian troops continued to try to capture western quarters of the town, which it calls Artemovsk. It claimed its forces had repelled all of Ukraine’s attacks.

CNBC was unable to verify the claims by either side.

Bakhmut holds little strategic value to either side but after nine months of intense combat there, winning back the town has symbolic meaning for Ukraine and is important for morale.

The Wagner Group’s leader has complained of a lack of ammunition supplies for his troops in Bakhmut amid a very public dispute with the Russian Defense Ministry.

— Holly Ellyatt

China’s attempts to broker a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia step up a gear this week, with Beijing’s special representative on Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, visiting Europe for talks “on a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis,” China’s Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Li will visit Ukraine and Russia as well as Poland, France and Germany for talks “on a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis,” China’s foreign ministry said last Friday.

The ministry noted that “since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis, China has held an objective and just position and actively promoted talks for peace” and said its peace plan “takes into account the legitimate concerns of all parties.”

“This upcoming visit by the Chinese representative again reflects China’s commitment to promoting peace talks and staying on the side of peace.”

The world continued to experience the “spillover effects of the crisis,” China said, adding that it aimed to “continue to play a constructive role and build more international consensus on ending hostilities, starting peace talks and preventing escalation of the situation, and help facilitate a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.”

China has tried to position itself as a peace broker since early on in the war, but there is skepticism over Beijing’s ability to manage and resolve a conflict as complex, bitter and deeply embedded as the one between Ukraine and Russia.

Read more on the story here: China doesn’t really care who wins the war in Ukraine — it just wants to win the peace, analysts say