Burnham hosts Zelensky and offers ‘stone cloak’ device just a week after taking PM job
Andy Burnham will host Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, his first international visitor since becoming Prime Minister.
Britain’s support for Ukraine is “unwavering”, the new Prime Minister said ahead of Monday’s visit, just a week after entering Downing Street.
They will visit a naval base where Mr Burnham will announce that Ukraine will transfer to Britain the intellectual property rights behind its new “Stone Cloak” electronic warfare system, which will allow Ukraine to produce the technology on a large scale.
The tablet-sized device is designed to prevent any UAV it is attached to from being detected by Russia.
The Ministry of Defense has provided thousands of jammers to Ukrainian forces to support drone operations.
In a statement, Mr Burnham said: “The UK stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine and our support is unwavering.
“Russia should have no doubt about our determination and we will not back down until a lasting and just peace is achieved for Ukraine.
“Stone Cloak is the best innovation produced in Britain and has been proven on the front lines and will be vital to keeping us safe in both countries.”
What is ‘Stone Cloak’?
Following its deployment in Ukraine, the technology is expected to be incorporated into the UK’s next generation of long-range strike weapons, including Project Brakestop, the Government’s initiative to develop low-cost cruise missiles.
During the visit, the two leaders will spend the last three weeks in the UK and meet with more than 200 Ukrainian military personnel participating in Exercise Sea Breeze, which aims to strengthen combat capabilities and mine countermeasures in the Black Sea.
The new Prime Minister spoke to Mr Zelensky in one of his first meetings after taking office last Monday and invited the Ukrainian leader to visit “at the first opportunity”.
Mr Burnham, who has little foreign policy experience since the previous government, had vowed before entering No 10 to continue his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer’s steadfast support for Ukraine.
Sir Keir visited Kiev on his last day as Labor leader.
Romania shot down a suspected Russian drone after it entered its airspace, the country’s president said on Sunday; It was the third such attack in three days on the Eastern European country, which is a member of both the European Union and NATO.
The military alliance said two Romanian F-16 fighter jets took off from Fete*ti air base, which is under NATO’s operational command, and shot down the unmanned aerial vehicle over the Black Sea.
Romanian President Nicusor Dan said, “At 10.13 this morning, a new drone was shot down in the Sulina-Chilia region over Romanian territorial waters by an F-16 aircraft of the Romanian Air Force.” he said.
He added that authorities determined that one of the previously seized drones appeared to be “the Shahed type used by the Russian Federation in its offensive war against Ukraine.”
“This is Romania’s fourth downing of a drone that has violated NATO airspace in coordination with the alliance,” said Colonel Martin O’Donnell, spokesman for NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, known as SHAPE. Before the last three interceptions, Romanian jets shot down a drone in the skies over Estonia in May, he said.
Romanian pilots and aircraft are based in Lithuania, where they have broad strike capabilities as part of NATO’s force posture.
“As we continue to prove, NATO remains constantly alert and ready to defend itself against any threat,” O’Donnell said. he said.
