New British PM to announce plan to support long-range missile production during Ukraine visit

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham will visit Ukraine on Monday on his first overseas trip since taking office, and will announce British support to help Kyiv improve its domestic production of long-range missiles.

Burnham will be in Ukraine to co-chair a meeting of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, a group of countries backing Ukraine, on Monday when he is also due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

He is set to announce that Britain has agreed to allow European missile manufacturer MBDA to release classified information on British-made components used in the SCALP long-range cruise missile, according to his office.

That will help enable France and Ukraine to establish local assembly lines for the missile, which shares British and French technology, according to Downing Street.

“Ukraine’s security is our security,” Burnham says in a statement, adding that Britain will stand by Ukraine “for as long as it takes.”