It tells us more about the UK than it does about Ukraine that Volodymyr Zelensky is on his fourth British prime minister since the Russians launched their full-scale invasion of his country in 2022. But at any rate, as he comes to London for talks with Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz – a group known as the “E3” – Ukraine’s special relationship with Britain remains strong.
The 10th anniversary of Brexit, which is being covered extensively by The Independent, may remind us of the epochal disaster that marked Boris Johnson’s time at the top of British politics. But Mr Johnson should at least be given some credit for getting it right when, in 2022, he became the first Western leader to offer the then apparently doomed Ukrainians whatever support our country could provide. That commitment has been steadfast, as has been the case among virtually all of the European nations.
Sadly, it also stands in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s inexplicable decision to defect to, at best, malign neutrality, and at worst, parroting the Kremlin’s talking points. The UK, like Ukraine, should labour under no misapprehensions about which of its allies it can rely on in this dangerous world.
It is certainly heartening to see that Britain’s solidarity with Ukraine is as strong as ever under the Starmer administration, and is now bolstered by the creation of the “coalition of the willing”, jointly led by the UK and France, whose aims are to end the war and bring peace and security to the region.
Sir Keir, President Macron and Chancellor Merz are greeting a reliable friend and ally in London, and are intent on ever closer cooperation in ensuring the survival of a viable sovereign Ukraine. Mr Macron frames the discussions as moving from expressions of support to readying the necessary resources to keep the peace when it eventually arrives: “We are here both to organise support within the framework of the coalition of the willing, and to put that support in place.”
Peace may be some distance away, however. President Zelensky’s visit comes after his forces carried out yet another successful attack on St Petersburg, and after Vladimir Putin rejected his offer of a face-to-face meeting. President Trump is preoccupied with other emergencies, and seems to have given up on anything useful ever emerging from his summit in Alaska last summer with President Putin (which is frankly just as well, from Europe’s point of view).
As things stand, Putin wants to continue his war because he is terrified of the consequences of losing, but these days it is Mr Zelensky who gains the greater advantage from continuing it, because the tide is turning for Ukraine. This is altering the dynamic of Kyiv’s relationship with the European powers.
In particular, the difference in the British-Ukraine partnership now – and it is a remarkable change – is that while Britain has an embarrassingly underpowered military plagued by incompetence, the Ukrainians have the biggest army of any European nation, and have become global leaders in the revolution in warfare wrought by drone and anti-drone technology (and soon, by AI).
This, as the world has witnessed both in Ukraine and in the Gulf, has transformed the way in which countries think about and conduct military operations, on air, sea and land, and in defensive and offensive contexts alike. The hugely expensive tanks, piloted aircraft, air-defence missiles and warships that for decades have been the staples of defence procurement have been superseded – literally blown apart – by cheap unmanned aerial vehicles, as the commanders like to call their drones.
In the case of Ukraine, this has radically eroded the relevance of Russia’s numerical superiority in manpower, and at least partly neutralised the sheer vastness of the Russian hinterland – both factors that eventually saw off Napoleon and Hitler. By contrast, President Zelensky’s nominally smaller forces can launch aerial strikes deep into Russian territory almost unmolested.
President Putin, as vainglorious a man as has ever commanded the Kremlin, has twice been personally humiliated by this in recent weeks. In the first instance, he was forced to scale back the usual full May Day military parade in Red Square, for fear of seeing his missiles destroyed in front of him; in the second, the launch of the St Petersburg economic summit was marred by clouds of thick black smoke from a burning oil depot.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian drones are crippling Russian military supply lines, and have just about cut off occupied Crimea. Mr Zelensky has also been trying to help the Gulf states defend themselves against Iranian drone attacks – something the US has been unable to do.
So the Europeans have much to learn from Ukraine, and the military relationship is now a two-way street. Given the waste in British procurement being highlighted once again, it is sobering to see how a smaller nation such as Ukraine can humble a supposed nuclear superpower, Russia, on a very limited budget.
A little over a year ago, Mr Zelensky sat in the Oval Office being bullied by President Trump, who told him “You don’t have the cards” and said the Ukrainian leader was “playing with World War Three”.
Well, it turns out that Ukraine does have some extremely useful cards, and it is America that’s been flirting with world war, by failing to subdue Iran.
As the UK continues to build a new security partnership with Europe – one that, out of necessity, must for now work beyond the existing structures of the European Union – it is clear that Ukraine is no longer a supplicant, but a military force essential to this task. It is an indispensable ally, and a welcome one.
