Britain and Ukraine signed a 100-year agreement on Thursday, with Britain pledging to provide Ukraine with $3.6 billion in military aid this year.
The agreement was announced during a joint press conference at the presidential palace in Kiev, where British Prime Minister Keir Starmer joined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Mr. Starmer is on his first trip to Ukraine since taking office.
Prime Minister Starmer called the agreement historic and said the new partnership "reflects the strong ties between our two countries." The partnership will include cooperation in the areas of culture, education, science and technology.
Regarding military aid for its fight against Russia, Prime Minister Starmer said that Britain plans to provide Ukraine with a loan of more than $2.6 billion. He said the loan "will be repaid not by Ukraine, but by interest on frozen Russian funds." Mr. Starmer also announced that Britain was providing Ukraine with 150 artillery pieces and a new mobile air defense system.
In his comments, Prime Minister Starmer praised Ukraine's allies, particularly the United States, for contributing to Ukraine's success in the face of "Russian aggression." He said he wanted to publicly acknowledge the United States for "the work that the US has done here, the support that they have provided, because it has been a vital component of what has been a pretty incredible achievement by Ukraine."
The comments come just days before the inauguration of newly elected US President Donald Trump, who has criticized US support for Ukraine, and a day after the new president's pick to be US Secretary of State, Republican Senator Marco Rubio, told a Senate committee that the war must end.
Speaking at his confirmation hearing, Senator Rubio called the conflict a "war of attrition" and a "stalemate" that must end. He said the first step should be a ceasefire that stops the ground fighting, which has been taking place mostly in eastern Ukraine for more than a year.
Mr. Rubio called the destruction in Ukraine "extraordinary," saying it "will take a generation to rebuild."
"The truth of the matter is that in this conflict, there is no way Russia is going to take all of Ukraine," Mr. Rubio said. "It's also unrealistic to believe that somehow, a country the size of Ukraine... is also going to push these people back to where they were before the attack."
But even as he argued for a negotiated solution to end the fighting that began with Russia's invasion in February 2022, Senator Rubio said it was unlikely there would be much change to the current battle lines. Russia currently holds about a fifth of the internationally recognized Ukrainian land mass.
Democrats, and some Republicans on the committee, continued to voice their support for more military aid to Ukraine, saying it was important to give Kiev leverage in future peace talks with Moscow.
But Mr. Rubio said that one of Ukraine's main problems was not a lack of ammunition or money, but its inability to train and recruit forces sufficiently.
At Thursday's press conference in Kyiv, President Zelenskyy refused to speculate on what American support for Ukraine would look like under the new Trump administration.
"It's too early to talk about the details, because we haven't yet had a detailed conversation with the new American administration about security guarantees," he said.
President-elect Trump has expressed skepticism about the United States' continued military support for Kiev and has repeatedly vowed to end the war when he assumes the presidency on Monday.
In recent days, his aides have said that the new deadline to end the war is the first 100 days of his administration, which would be until the end of April.
Some data for this article was obtained from the news agencies Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse./ VOA (A2 Televizion)
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