Dhe Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky compared London's aid commitments to Kiev with US security guarantees for Israel after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's visit. “This day has already gone down in the history of our country: today we have an agreement, a security agreement with Great Britain, which we have been working on for a long time,” Zelensky said in his daily video address on Friday. Many have heard about the security agreements between the USA and Israel. “Now we have created such a model for our time.” That gives confidence for the defensive fight against Russia, said the 45-year-old.
The goal remains to join NATO for our own security. But as an interim step, Ukraine is working on security guarantees from the major Western economic powers (G7) on a bilateral level. Zelensky praised the agreement with Great Britain as the first step towards this. London not only promised military aid for the current year, but also promised permanent support for weapons and the development of Ukrainian defense production for the entire duration of the agreement – ten years, according to the head of state.
Sunak promises billions for weapons in Kyiv
British Prime Minister Sunak also promised Ukraine military aid of 2.5 billion pounds (2.9 billion euros) this year. The package also included thousands of combat drones, he said on Friday during an unannounced visit to Kiev. Sunak signed a security agreement with Zelensky. It promises support to Ukraine now, but also in the event of a future conflict with Russia, as the British government announced.
Zelenskyj hopes for movement in negotiations with the USA
In view of the agreement with London, the Ukrainian president was optimistic that there would now be movement in the negotiations on military aid for Ukraine in Washington. “I see it more positively now than in December,” he said at a press conference. The pressure will be applied until there is a result.
The USA is Ukraine's most important arms supplier in its defense against the Russian invasion. Recently, however, the US Congress paralyzed the White House's arms aid due to domestic political quarrels.
New drone attacks on Ukraine
On Saturday night, Ukraine again reported drone attacks on its own cities. According to Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko, there were explosions near the Ukrainian capital. The anti-aircraft defense is in action, he wrote on his Telegram channel. Nothing was initially known about any damage.
According to media reports, there was a power outage in large parts of the western Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr. The city parliament announced on Facebook on Friday that 21 substations were unexpectedly shut down. Employees of the energy plants are repairing the damage, it was said. Little was known about the causes or the length of the power outage.
Reports: Moscow brings back criminals in prisoner exchange
According to media reports, in the most recent exchange of prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine, Moscow brought back criminals primarily fighting in its own ranks, according to media reports. Of the 248 soldiers who returned home to Russia during the exchange, 180 were recruited in prisons for the war in Ukraine, the independent internet portal “istories”, among others, reported on Friday.
Among those returning home are convicted murderers, kidnappers and robbers, many of them repeat offenders. It was the first prisoner exchange between the two hostile neighboring countries in six months.
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