Zelenskyy to meet Andy Burnham as UK unveils anti-drone aid for Ukraine

London,UPDATED: Jul 27, 2026 14:50 IST

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet British Prime Minister Andy Burnham at a naval base in England on Monday, in what Burnham said is a sign of the UK's "unwavering" support for Ukraine. The visit will be the first by a foreign leader since Burnham took office a week ago.

The meeting comes as Russia and Ukraine continue to exchange large-scale drone strikes, with casualties and damage reported on both sides. Britain also said it will give Ukraine the intellectual property behind its new "Stone Cloak" electronic warfare system, which blocks drones from being detected.

Zelenskyy's trip is his first meeting with Burnham, who will be the fifth British prime minister to deal with the Ukrainian president since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Burnham's predecessor, Keir Starmer, was in Kyiv less than two weeks ago on his last overseas trip before leaving office.

"Russia should be in no doubt of our resolve, and we will not back down until we achieve long lasting and just peace for Ukraine," Burnham said. Burnham has spent the past nine years as mayor of Greater Manchester and has little foreign policy experience.

During the visit, Zelenskyy and Burnham will meet more than 200 Ukrainian military personnel who have spent the past three weeks in Britain. The UK government said they have been taking part in an exercise aimed at strengthening war-fighting capabilities and countermine measures in the Black Sea.

Ukraine has stepped up deep strikes inside Russia with more frequent drone attacks targeting oil facilities, military factories and, more recently, logistical centres. The attacks have brought the war closer to ordinary Russians and increased pressure on President Vladimir Putin, though Russia has continued its aerial campaign and has regularly hit Ukraine with missiles and drones.

According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia attacked Ukraine overnight with 147 long-range strike drones, of which 123 were intercepted or jammed. In Zaporizhzhia, one person was killed and two were injured in attacks that damaged a high-rise residential building and several private homes, regional administration head Ivan Fedorov said.

In the Nikopol district of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian strikes damaged a kindergarten, residential buildings and infrastructure, injuring a woman and a six-year-old boy, administration head Oleksandr Hanzha said.

In Moscow, Russia's Defence Ministry said air defences downed 276 Ukrainian drones overnight. Rostov region Governor Yuri Slyusar said a couple died when a Ukrainian drone hit an apartment building in Rostov-on-Don, and five others were injured in a separate drone attack on the city.

In Belgorod, a Ukrainian drone attack injured 12 people, including two children, according to regional emergency officials. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Ukraine had struck an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea, killing a sailor.

In a post on X on Sunday, Araghchi called the attack a "blatant UN Charter violation done at Israel's behest to drag Europe into its war". He said he made it clear in calls with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that the attack "can't go unanswered".

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian long-range strikes in the Caspian Sea over the weekend achieved "very good results", and said the targets included "vessels involved in transporting military cargo linked to Iran, as well as a warship". The planned meeting in England, Britain's fresh support measures and the latest cross-border strikes together underline the continuing intensity of the war.

With PTI Inputs

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