Burnham wants to ‘repair bridges’ between Trump and Zelenskyy

Submission Statement: Andy Burnham has said he wants to “repair bridges” between Ukraine and the US, as he welcomed Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Downing Street for the first time since becoming UK prime minister in July. The controversial agreement secured between Trump and Putin last week has triggered a backlash from Kyiv and criticism in Europe, including from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

The prime minister, whose first overseas visit was to Ukraine in August, used Zelenskyy’s visit to announce an acceleration of UK military support for Kyiv and fresh sanctions aimed at curbing Moscow. It includes faster deliveries of British lightweight multirole missiles to counter Russian jet-powered drones. Ministers were looking at “all possible avenues” for further options to help, Burnham said.

In the House of Commons, the prime minister also shed light on his own delicate diplomatic task mediating between Ukraine and the US.

“What I have to do in my role is try and repair bridges so that the support comes back, and therefore I should, at this moment in time, be careful in terms of laying the ground to bring people back together,” he told MPs.

Burnham’s intervention came as British defence secretary Wes Streeting warned that the future of the UK-US relationship “cannot run on the fumes of nostalgia” as he prepared to meet his American counterpart Pete Hegseth.

Streeting added that a “modern, indispensable alliance” between Britain and America would help defend transatlantic freedom.

His remarks came after UK foreign secretary Ed Miliband said Trump’s diesel deal with Putin had sparked “a very difficult few days” in transatlantic relations.