First visit as Foreign Secretary
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has pledged new funding for Ukraine during her first official trip to Kyiv, declaring that “Ukraine’s security is crucial to the UK’s security.”
Her visit comes amid intensified Russian attacks on civilians and infrastructure and follows Moscow’s recent violation of NATO airspace in Poland.
Cooper will meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko and Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, as well as Ukrainian families displaced by Russia’s strikes. She is also due to visit the Cabinet of Ministers building and a residential block destroyed by recent bombardments.
Energy and humanitarian support
The UK has committed £142 million in new aid to strengthen Ukraine’s resilience through the winter. Of this, £100 million will provide humanitarian assistance, repairing critical water and heating systems, protecting vulnerable communities, and supporting jobs in frontline regions. A further £42 million will fund urgent repairs to Ukraine’s electricity grid and protect gas and power infrastructure.
Cooper said: “The UK’s support is unwavering and stronger than ever as we know the long-term security and stability threat that Russian aggression poses not just to Ukraine, but to the whole of Europe.”
Long-term partnership
The funding builds on Britain’s wider support, including military aid and the UK-Ukraine 100 Year Partnership announced earlier this year. Cooper reaffirmed Britain’s leadership of the “Coalition of the Willing” and stressed that the UK would back Ukraine “to achieve a just and lasting peace.”
She added that Putin’s bombardment of civilians and stalling of peace talks “must end,” while vowing the UK would remain by Ukraine’s side “in friendship for years to come.”
