BRITISH DEFENCE SECRETARY GRANT SHAPPS VISITS KYIV ‘TO BOLSTER UKRAINE’S AIR DEFENCES’

Thu 28 September 2023:

British defence secretary Grant Shapps discussed how to bolster Ukraine’s air defences during talks in an unannounced visit to Kyiv to meet Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president’s office said on Thursday.

The visit to the Ukrainian capital was Shapps’s first to Kyiv since he became defence secretary last month, Reuters reports.

“On behalf of the whole nation, I thank you for everything you are doing for us. We are grateful for your help – military, financial, humanitarian. We greatly appreciate that we can rely on you,” a statement released by Zelenskiy’s office quoted the president as saying.

Zelensky meets with UK Defense Minister.

President Zelensky met with recently appointed U.K. Defense Minister Grant Shapps in Kyiv on Sept. 28, the president announced on social media.

It was Shapps' second visit to Kyiv and his first in his role as defense minister. pic.twitter.com/khDc3EMsqs

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) September 28, 2023

Zelenskiy is believed to have raised defence sector cooperation between Kyiv and London, which he said had allowed Ukraine to significantly expand its capabilities on the battlefield with long-range weapons.

Britain this year supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles that have allowed Ukraine to conduct long-range strikes on targets in Russian-occupied territory.

The visit was not pre-announced, and it was unclear exactly when Shapps met Zelenskiy. Shapps has visited Ukraine before during the war, but in his previous capacity of energy minister.

Meanwhile, NATO has framework contracts in place for €2.4 billion (£2 billion) of key ammunition for Ukraine, including €1 billion (£864 million) in firm orders, its secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday during an unannounced visit to Kyiv, according to Reuters.

He said such contracts would allow NATO members to replenish their depleted stockpiles while also continuing to provide Ukraine with ammunition, a key factor in the war.

Stoltenberg also condemned Russian strikes near Ukraine’s border with NATO member Romania. He said there was no evidence such strikes were a deliberate attack on Romania but branded them “reckless” and “destabilizing”.

The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, on an unannounced visit to Kyiv, said Ukrainian forces were “gradually gaining ground” in their counteroffensive against Russian forces.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Stoltenberg also said Russian troops were fighting for Moscow’s “imperial delusions”.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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