Zelensky in London to negotiate a drone deal with Burnham

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham at a naval base on Monday. At the heart of the discussions: a possible cooperation agreement on drones and the sharing of a new electronic jamming system.

Andy Burnham will receive Volodymyr Zelensky this Monday, July 27, barely a week after his arrival at Downing Street. The Ukrainian president is the first foreign leader to be received by the new British Prime Minister, who intends to reaffirm his "unwavering support" for Ukraine.

The two men meet at a naval base, where they will exchange ideas with Ukrainian and British military personnel participating in a mine countermeasures exercise, with a view to future missions in the Black Sea.

Zelensky has come up with a concrete proposal. "We are ready to share all our knowledge with the UK and hope that the UK will do the same, which is why we need a very solid agreement on drones," he told Sky News. The Ukrainian president is also considering establishing a large drone factory on British soil and wants to "open a new chapter" between the two countries.

For several months, Kyiv has been leveraging its expertise in drones and counter-drone warfare as a diplomatic tool, particularly with Gulf states targeted by Iranian drones. This strategy aims to secure international military and technological support.

London, for its part, announced the sharing with Ukraine of the intellectual property rights to an electronic jamming system called "Stone Cloak." Presented as capable of complicating the detection and targeting of Ukrainian drones by Russian air defenses, this device could be produced "on a large scale" by Kyiv in order to "strengthen its defense lines and the defense of Europe," according to Downing Street. The system is also intended to equip the next generation of British military capabilities, including the future low-cost cruise missile being developed under the "Brakestop" project.

The United Kingdom has been among Ukraine's main supporters since the start of the large-scale Russian invasion in 2022. It has mobilized some 25 billion pounds sterling (29 billion euros) in total, including 16 billion in military aid.

After London, Zelensky will travel to Washington on Tuesday to meet with Donald Trump, more than four years after the start of the conflict, with no diplomatic progress between the warring parties. Early Monday morning, two people were killed in Rostov-on-Don in an airstrike, according to the governor of the Russian province, while one person died on the Ukrainian side in a guided bomb strike on Zaporizhzhia.