Andy Burnham, the UK Prime Minister, is travelling to Kyiv to mark Ukraine's independence day and reaffirm British support, in a trip that comes as tensions with Russia sharply escalate over the use of UK-supplied drones in strikes deep inside Russian territory. The Kremlin has warned of "consequences" for Britain's growing involvement and has recalled its ambassador, Andrey Kelin, after seven years in post, declaring relations "at an unprecedentedly low level" and accusing London of choosing "a path of confrontation."

During the visit, marking the 35th anniversary of Ukrainian independence, Burnham will accept an award recognising UK support and chair his first meeting of the "coalition of the willing", the UK-France-led group backing Ukraine. The government has also cleared defence firm MBDA to release classified details on UK components used in the French Scalp missile, a version of Storm Shadow, as Ukraine and France explore setting up local Scalp assembly lines. Russia has not named a replacement ambassador, and its interests in the UK will now be handled by chargé d'affaires Vasily Tsyganov, fuelling speculation Moscow may be downgrading diplomatic ties.