UK PM Burnham vows to boost Ukraine's long-range missile capacity on Kyiv visit — Zelenskyy warns wartime elections would be a 'tsunami' that splits Ukraine

24 August 2026 | Kyiv, London, Paris — Updated 23:30 GMT

Britain will boost Ukraine's capacity to make its own long-range missiles, Andy Burnham will announce on Monday, as he travels to Kyiv for the country's independence day on his first foreign visit as prime minister.

Burnham will arrive in the Ukrainian capital on Monday morning at a crucial time in the war, with Kyiv braced for another wave of Russian missile attacks and the country's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, facing his most direct domestic challenge.

The UK prime minister will use the trip to announce that the UK government will allow the European defence company MBDA to declassify information about UK-made components of the Anglo-French Storm Shadow/Scalp missiles to help Ukraine build its own version.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said holding elections in Ukraine during wartime would risk splitting the country at a time when Russia is amassing ballistic missiles and considering whether to mobilise an extra 300,000 soldiers.

Welcome to the latest world headlines — where missile diplomacy, political challenges, and Ukraine's fight for survival collide.

UK PM to Announce Storm Shadow Component Declassification on Independence Day Visit

Britain will boost Ukraine's capacity to make its own long-range missiles, Andy Burnham will announce on Monday, as he travels to Kyiv for the country's independence day on his first foreign visit as prime minister.

Burnham will arrive in the Ukrainian capital on Monday morning at a crucial time in the war, with Kyiv braced for another wave of Russian missile attacks and the country's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, facing his most direct domestic challenge.

The UK prime minister will use the trip to announce that the UK government will allow the European defence company MBDA to declassify information about UK-made components of the Anglo-French Storm Shadow/Scalp missiles to help Ukraine build its own version.

While the announcement will probably take years to have an impact on the war, it is likely to escalate tensions with Moscow at an already fraught moment in UK-Russian relations.

Burnham said in a statement on Sunday night: "On Ukraine's 35th anniversary of independence, the Ukrainian people should be in no doubt: the UK is behind you today and for as long as it takes."

"I am proud of the contribution our country has made to Ukraine and I want the Ukrainian people to hear it directly from me that our support will not waver. After all, Ukraine's security is our security."

"The friendship between our two countries will long outlast Russia's illegal war. In both the fight and in the rebuilding to come, we will stand with Ukraine and deliver opportunities for people across both our countries."

"Russia should be in no doubt of our resolve. We will not back down until there is a just and lasting peace."

Burnham will announce in Kyiv that the UK will help France set up assembly lines in Ukraine for long-range missiles, which the French president, Emmanuel Macron, promised last month.

Zelenskyy Warns Wartime Elections Would Be a 'Tsunami' That Splits Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said holding elections in Ukraine during wartime would risk splitting the country at a time when Russia is amassing ballistic missiles and considering whether to mobilise an extra 300,000 soldiers.

The Ukrainian president, responding for the first time to a demand made by the sacked former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, sharply criticised an idea that he said was impractical given Russia appeared to have no interest in a ceasefire.

"I believe that if we want to destroy the country, then during such a war we can move in the selection of elections," Zelenskyy said in a briefing to selected journalists that was held on Saturday, but details of which were reported on Sunday.

"I believe that during such a war, elections in general are big risks. Elections right now are a tsunami for the state that will split Ukraine," he said, adding that his plan was to end the war and preserve Ukraine as an independent state.

Elections have been suspended in Ukraine since martial law was imposed at the start of the full-scale invasion by Russia. Zelenskyy's five-year term ended in May 2024 but there had until recently been little desire in Ukraine to hold a contest while the war continued.

That shifted when Fedorov, a popular minister who had been dismissed by Zelenskyy a month earlier, called for a fresh contest. It was the most open challenge to Zelenskyy's authority from inside Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion.

Zelenskyy said, according to a transcript from the briefing, that if Ukraine's allies were to establish "specific conditions" under which elections could be safely, legitimately and democratically held in Ukraine, he would support them.

It would require "the participation of the military, in frontline territories, abroad, where millions of our citizens have gone, fleeing the war" and a poll would have to take place safely "without strikes and shelling", he said.

Fedorov, he said, had moved from his post because had had overreached, trying to cover functions belonging to the military. He had been offered four alternative jobs in the government but declined all four, the president added.

"I really had and still have a very positive attitude toward Mykhailo," Zelenskyy said. "We have been through a lot together. But I believe that he himself goes, or is pushed, into the wrong things."

Russia Stockpiling 600+ Ballistic Missiles as Ukraine Desperately Seeks Patriot Interceptors

Russia had a stockpile of 600-630 high-speed ballistic missiles, its most potent type of weapon, and was trying to build a little more than 100 more a month in the run-up to winter, Zelenskyy said. Its maximum production capacity was 1,300 a year, he added.

Ballistic missiles have been used to bomb Ukrainian infrastructure and warehouses and to attack the capital, causing increased civilian casualties. There is a shortage of US-made Patriot interceptors, the only weapon that can effectively counter them.

"I wanted to secure 300 Patriot missiles for the winter package. The request from our air force is 360," Zelenskyy said. He acknowledged this was difficult given that only about 600 of the most capable PAC-3 interceptor missiles were made a year. He said he had reached an agreement with France on at least one SAMP/T air-defence system this year, and with Germany on the supply of about 600 PAC-2 and PAC-3 interceptors in 2027-28.

The US could help by supplying "some small percentage" of its stockpiles – about 5% to 10%, he added. Ukraine was willing to pay and it would mean the country "could get through the winter", he said, calling on the US to make what would be "a very significant difference both in protecting lives and diplomatically".

Macron spoke to Zelenskyy on Saturday to promise to deliver separate interceptor missiles, which could help counter the recent barrage of high-speed Russian missile attacks on Kyiv.

Macron posted on X on Saturday: "It is crucial to provide Ukraine with all the necessary means to defend its skies and thwart this aggression … It is essential that all countries with capabilities at their disposal also join this effort."

The Ukrainian military has run out of US-made Patriot interceptors, and the US president, Donald Trump, recently backtracked on a promise to let Ukraine build its own.

However, Zelenskyy said over the weekend he still wanted to buy more US-made Patriots, adding that Ukraine was happy to pay for them rather than receive them as military aid.

Coalition of the Willing to Meet as European Leaders Condemn Latest Attacks

The prime minister will on Monday use a meeting of the coalition of the willing, which comprises 34 countries that have promised to help secure Ukraine in the event of a peace deal with Russia, to underline that commitment.

The meeting will be co-chaired by Burnham and Macron, who will join remotely via video link. Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, will also take part in the call as the leaders discuss ways to help Ukraine repel the recent wave of long-distance attacks.

While there, Burnham will attend independence day events, the details of which are being kept secret amid concerns of a major Russian attack, and receive an award in recognition of the UK's support for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, European leaders have condemned Friday's drone attack on a busy shopping centre in central Ukraine, which killed 16 people in Zelenskyy's home town of Kryvyi Rih.

Tensions Escalate as Russia Withdraws Ambassador from London Amid UK Missile Support

The British announcement is a small step in a much larger and longer-term project that could lead to Ukraine making its own long-range versions of the Storm Shadow cruise missile in several years' time.

But the move is likely to trigger further criticism from Moscow at a time when tensions between the UK and Russia are already high.

Last week, Russia accused the UK of deliberately escalating the conflict by allowing Ukraine to launch attacks with British-made drones, warning that the deeper Britain's involvement, "the higher the price it will pay".

This weekend it emerged that Russia had withdrawn its ambassador in London without naming a replacement, prompting speculation it was downgrading its diplomatic presence in the UK.

Burnham has insisted that Russian threats will not weaken British support for Ukraine, saying last week: "We are not fair-weather friends. We will be there in Ukraine's hour of need, and that won't change."

Zelenskyy Warns Russia Could Mobilise 300,000 More Soldiers After September Elections

Russia is seeking to build up forces for a renewed effort to capture the rest of the eastern Donetsk province it does not control by the end of the year, though Zelenskyy said he was confident Moscow would fail to capture the area, comprising principally the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

The president said he believed Russia would try to conscript a further 300,000 soldiers after the Russian parliamentary elections in September. It would be a "peripheral mobilisation" conducted away from Moscow, St Petersburg and other main cities in an effort to regain momentum in the almost deadlocked frontline, he said.

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