London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Sep 19, 2025

Boris Johnson meets Volodymyr Zelenskiy in unannounced visit to Kyiv

Boris Johnson meets Volodymyr Zelenskiy in unannounced visit to Kyiv

Two leaders will ‘discuss UK’s long-term support to Ukraine’ and Johnson will set out new aid package, says No 10

Boris Johnson is meeting the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy during an unannounced visit to Kyiv, Ukrainian officials have said.

A picture posted on Twitter by the embassy of Ukraine to the UK showed the two leaders sitting across a table in the capital, with their respective flags in the background.

The embassy tweeted the photo along with the caption: “Surprise”.


A No 10 spokesperson said the prime minister was using the unannounced visit to set out a new package of financial and military aid.

“The prime minister has travelled to Ukraine to meet President Zelenskiy in person, in a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people,” the spokesperson said.

“They will discuss the UK’s long-term support to Ukraine and the PM will set out a new package of financial and military aid.”

Johnson’s visit comes the day after he announced a further £100m worth of UK military assistance for Ukrainian forces, including anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry and so-called “suicide drones”, which loiter over the battlefield before attacking their target.

Johnson’s trip to Kyiv may be seen as a publicity coup for the prime minister, who has reportedly been “desperate” to travel to Ukraine.

The security situation in the capital has stabilised after Russian forces withdrew from their forward positions on 29 March. They abandoned the towns of Bucha and Hostomel north-west of Kyiv and retreated to Belarus.

Since then artillery attacks on the city have stopped. Emergency teams have swept highways and roadsides for explosives and have been towing away destroyed Russian armoured vehicles.

With air travel impossible, Johnson will have driven to Kyiv, most probably from eastern Poland. The 400 mile route from the border passes the western city of Lviv. On the outskirts of the capital Johnson will have seen blown-up Russian tanks by the side of the road, as well as ironic welcoming signs painted by Ukrainians saying: “Russia go fuck yourself”.

Johnson is a popular figure in Kyiv after having delivered vital anti-tank weapons, the Swedish-made NLAW system, to the Ukrainian army. Zelenskiy has repeatedly praised the UK’s staunch support.

A growing number of senior politicians are now making the trip. On Friday the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, visited with her deputy, Josep Borrell. Both condemned the Russian rocket attack on a train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk.

Johnson travelled to Kyiv on 1 February before the invasion and held talks with Zelenskiy in the Mariinsky Palace, the president’s official residence.

He said then the UK would impose sanctions on Russia as soon as the “first Russian toecap” strode into Ukrainian territory. He also warned – correctly – that Russia’s armed forces were a “clear and present danger”.

It was reported last month that Johnson wanted to go to Kyiv, but that UK security officials were nervous about the prospect.

At the time, the Tory co-chair Oliver Dowden claimed the prime minister was “desperate to go to Ukraine” and had a “real emotional connection” with the Ukrainian people. Downing Street sources indicated at the time that a visit was unlikely to happen.

The visit comes after Zelenskiy called on Ukraine’s allies to provide the country with more military aid and step up sanctions on Russia, after the missile attack in Kramatorsk that killed at least 50 people, including five children. Russia’s defence ministry denied responsibility.

Johnson’s visit came as the European Commission said it would pledge €1bn (£834m) to support Ukraine and countries receiving refugees fleeing the war, Von der Leyen said on Saturday.

“Six-hundred million of those will go to Ukraine, to the Ukrainian authorities and partially to the United Nations,” Von der Leyen said at a fundraising event for Ukraine in Warsaw.

“And €400m will go to the frontline states that are doing such an outstanding job and helping the refugees that are coming.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
×