The United Kingdom has vowed to continue supporting Ukraine’s defence despite what it described as “outrageous threats” from Russia over British assistance to Kyiv.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham made the statement on Monday during a visit to Kyiv for Ukraine’s Independence Day commemorations and ahead of a meeting of the country’s international backers.
“Despite Russia’s outrageous threats to my country, we will continue our support for Ukraine’s defence.”
The Kremlin had earlier accused Britain of obstructing peace efforts in Ukraine by providing Kyiv with information needed to produce SCALP long-range cruise missiles domestically.
Russia also threatened to target facilities involved in manufacturing the missiles.
British authorities said they would authorise defence company MBDA to release information relating to UK components used in the Franco-British missile, allowing Ukraine to produce the weapons domestically.
Asked about the release of the SCALP information, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Britain of deliberately undermining efforts to achieve peace.
“Britain is methodically and regularly throwing oil on the fire.”
Peskov said Russian forces were gathering intelligence to identify facilities producing such missiles and other military equipment, adding that Moscow would take measures to destroy them.
The SCALP missile is a long-range cruise missile capable of striking targets approximately 250 kilometres (150 miles) away.
France and Britain have supplied the weapon to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, although Ukraine has not previously produced the missiles domestically.
Burnham, during his Kyiv visit, reiterated Britain’s commitment to maintaining military support for Ukraine despite the Russian warnings.
Source: AFP.
