16:26 10.10.2024

Zelenskyy discusses Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration, military strengthening with Rutte, Starmer

2 min read
Zelenskyy discusses Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration, military strengthening with Rutte, Starmer

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Thursday.

"The key topics of our talks included Euro-Atlantic integration and military strengthening of Ukraine. This will create better conditions for restoring just peace. We also discussed how the decisions of the NATO Summit in Washington can be implemented sooner and agreed on our further steps," the head of state said on the Telegram channel following the meeting.

The president's press service said that Zelenskyy spoke in detail about daily airstrikes by the Russian Federation against civilians and facilities, including the energy grid, as well as recent attacks on the Black Sea Grain Initiative infrastructure.

The leaders noted the symbolic nature of Rutte's first visit to Ukraine as the new NATO Secretary General, calling it a clear demonstration of the Alliance's priorities.

Starmer's spokesperson, for his part, reiterated the UK's view that Ukraine has the right, in certain circumstances, to strike targets inside Russian territory, but said that the UK's stance on the use of its long-range Storm Shadow missiles was unchanged, Reuters reported.

"We obviously want to put Ukraine in the strongest position. But no war has ever been won by a single weapon. And on Storm Shadow specifically, there has been no change to the UK government's position on the use of long-range missiles," the spokesperson said.

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