Andy Burnham, who took office as Britain's prime minister on 20 July, received Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a Royal Navy base on Monday in what Downing Street described as a demonstration of the "unbreakable bond" between the two nations. Zelenskyy became the first foreign leader to visit Burnham since he entered Downing Street, arriving just days after Burnham's predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, made a final trip to Kyiv — during which Zelenskyy awarded him Ukraine's Order of Freedom, the country's highest honour for foreign nationals. Burnham had spoken to Zelenskyy within hours of taking office, inviting him to visit "at the earliest opportunity".
The centrepiece of the meeting was the announcement that Britain will share the intellectual property behind "Stone Cloak", an electronic jamming system about the size of a tablet computer that is fitted to drones to prevent Russian air defence systems from tracking and targeting them. Thousands of the devices have already been delivered to Ukrainian forces, and Kyiv is now able to mass-produce them independently. Downing Street said the technology, developed under a 100-year partnership pact signed in January 2024, will subsequently be integrated into the next generation of British deep-strike weapons, including Project Brakestop, a programme to develop low-cost cruise missiles. Burnham called Stone Cloak "the best of homegrown British innovation and proven on the frontline", adding that it would be "vital to protecting our security in both our countries".
The two leaders also met more than 200 Ukrainian military personnel who had spent three weeks in Portland, Dorset, taking part in Exercise Sea Breeze, a 15-country maritime training exercise focused on counter-mine operations and warfighting capabilities in preparation for potential future Black Sea missions. Zelenskyy used the visit to press for deeper defence cooperation, telling the broadcaster Sky News that he wanted to sign a "drone deal" with Britain and build a drone factory on British soil. He also acknowledged that Ukraine "does not have enough missiles to defend" against Russia's increasingly frequent ballistic missile strikes, warning that Moscow was expanding its production capacity and that air defence systems were urgently needed.
The visit comes at a complex moment in the wider conflict. US-led ceasefire negotiations remain stalled, and Washington's attention has been partly diverted by its involvement in a war with Iran. Zelenskyy was due to travel to Washington on Tuesday for talks with President Donald Trump, whose relationship with the Ukrainian leader has shifted from a heated Oval Office confrontation in February 2025 to a more constructive dynamic in recent months, including Trump granting Ukraine permission to produce US-designed Patriot air defence systems. Britain's total support for Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 now stands at £25 billion, including £16 billion in direct military assistance.
Burnham sought to send a clear signal of continuity in British policy. "Russia should be in no doubt of our resolve, and we will not back down until we achieve a long-lasting and just peace for Ukraine," he said. Zelenskyy, who admitted to concerns about leadership changes among Ukraine's key allies, expressed cautious optimism: "I hope we will never lose strong relations with the UK during or after the war."