Zelenskyy to address UK Cabinet meeting

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address an extraordinary meeting of the UK Cabinet on Friday, 19 July.

Source: UK government website

Quote: "The Ukrainian leader, who will be the first official visitor to Downing Street during Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s tenure, is expected to meet and brief the new Cabinet about the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine, and the need to ramp up Europe’s defence industrial base to outpace the Russian threat. 

The last foreign leader to address the Cabinet in person was President Clinton in 1997."

Details: It is expected that the leaders of the two countries will agree on a Defence Export Support Treaty, which will be signed by their countries’ defence ministers so as to boost the defence industrial bases of the UK and Ukraine and increase the production of military hardware and weapons.

Quote: "The treaty will enable Ukraine to draw on £3.5 billion [US$4.4 billion – ed.] of export finance, to support its armed forces. 

It will also allow Ukrainian and UK defence companies to invest in further military capabilities and continue to rapidly innovate on new and novel military hardware."

Background: 

• King Charles III met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Blenheim Palace on the sidelines of the European Political Community Summit.
• President Zelenskyy's first meeting with Keir Starmer, the UK Prime Minister, took place on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Washington last week.
• In an interview with European Pravda in Washington, David Lammy, the new UK Foreign Secretary, confirmed that the support plans for Ukraine approved by the previous Conservative government, including the funding amounts, remain in effect.
• Lammy also said that the government is considering Ukraine's request for permission to use Storm Shadow cruise missiles deep within Russian territory.

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