Andy Burnham has pledged continued "unwavering" UK support for Ukraine ahead of hosting President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, in what will be the new prime minister's first meeting with a foreign leader since taking office a week ago. Downing Street said the visit underlines the strength of UK-Ukraine relations, with the two leaders due to visit a naval base where Burnham will announce that Britain is sharing the intellectual property behind its "Stone Cloak" electronic warfare system, allowing Ukraine to manufacture the anti-drone jamming technology at scale.

The Ministry of Defence has already supplied thousands of the tablet-sized jammers to Ukrainian forces, and the technology is now set to be built into Britain's next generation of long-range weapons, including the low-cost Project Brakestop cruise missile programme. The visit will also see the leaders meet more than 200 Ukrainian troops who have spent three weeks training in the UK as part of Exercise Sea Breeze, aimed at strengthening Black Sea warfighting and counter-mine capabilities. The UK has committed £25bn to Ukraine's war effort since Russia's invasion four years ago, and Burnham's predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, had pledged fresh funding and received Ukraine's Order of Freedom on his final visit to Kyiv as prime minister.