The targets of night strikes by Great Britain and the United States against the Yemeni Houthis were their sites for launching drones and missiles at merchant ships in the Red Sea; it was an act of self-defense, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.

At a press conference on the results of the meeting with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Sunak spoke about the situation in the Red Sea, namely the UK-U.S. alliance carried out strikes against the Houthis in Yemen. He said, this was aimed at destroying the sites from which the Houthis were launching drones and missiles against merchant ships in the Black Sea.

As he said, in order to reduce the military capabilities of the Houthis, targets were chosen very carefully, and force was used proportionately.

The British Prime Minister said the actions of the Houthis brought destruction and misfortune, which led to a threat to maritime navigation.

He said that after repeated warnings about the need to stop these attacks, after a speech at the UN, they spoke about the need to maintain freedom of navigation and the need to stop these hostilities. However, none of this happened. That is why today Britain, in particular, resorted to limited steps to defend ourselves. And in the face of this aggression, they will always respect the rule of law, the British Prime Minister said.

As Sunak said, the Great Britain would absolutely like to see de-escalation and restoration of stability in the region. He said over the past few weeks, a significant increase in attacks on commercial vessels has been noticed, which has a negative impact on the global economy.