Britain will continue arming Ukraine despite what he called "outrageous threats" from Moscow, the UK prime minister, Andy Burnham, said in Kyiv on Monday, hitting back at a Kremlin claim that London was pouring fuel on the war with the retort: "Who started the fire?"
Burnham made the remarks on his first overseas trip since taking office on 20 July, arriving by train at Kyiv's central railway station on the 35th anniversary of Ukrainian independence. He was met on the platform by the Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, who posted photographs of the handshake on X.
The exchange followed a decision by Burnham's government to authorise the missile manufacturer MBDA to declassify information on British-made components in the SCALP long-range cruise missile, so that France and Ukraine can establish assembly lines on Ukrainian soil. Reuters reported the move ahead of the visit, citing Burnham's office.
The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Monday that the decision would "add fuel to the fire" and said Moscow viewed it extremely negatively. In a Reuters translation, Peskov said Britain "is involved in this war on the side of the Kyiv regime" and "methodically and regularly adds fuel to the fire". An AFP rendering of the same remarks has Britain "methodically and regularly throwing oil on the fire" and "plotting schemes to prevent even the slightest progress in the peace process". Peskov also said the Russian military was systematically identifying and destroying missile production sites.
Burnham's response, reported by the Press Association, was blunt.
"Who started the fire?"
In what LBC described as his first major international address, Burnham said Britain had "kept the flame of European freedom alive in the 20th century" and that Russia's "outrageous threats" would not deter him from supporting Ukraine. France 24, carrying AFP, reported the same formulation.
A Downing Street press release issued on Monday, quoted by CNN, put it more directly still. "The Ukrainian people should be in no doubt: the UK is behind you today and for as long as it takes," Burnham said, adding: "Ukraine's security is our security." He also said, according to PA: "Russia should be in no doubt of our resolve. We will not back down until there is a just and lasting peace."
Earlier in the day Burnham laid a wreath and flowers at the graves of Ukrainian soldiers at the National Military Cemetery, which Al Jazeera places at Hatne, south-west of Kyiv. The Finnish president, Alexander Stubb, told him there that "we are in a war period".
Burnham went on to co-chair a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, the informal grouping of around 34 countries led by London and Paris, which RFE/RL describes as convening without any identified US participant. The Élysée, cited by UNN via Le Figaro, said the meeting began at 1pm Kyiv time in hybrid format, with roughly ten participants physically present in the Ukrainian capital. The European Council president, António Costa, attended in person and Nato's deputy secretary general, Radmila Šekerinska, joined remotely, according to Brussels Signal. Al Jazeera and Bloomberg reported that the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, joined by video link.
The weapon at the centre of the row is the French variant of the Storm Shadow, built by the same manufacturer and sharing its technology. MercoPress reports the missile weighs 1,300kg, is 5.1 metres long and strikes at a range of about 250km — shorter than Ukraine's deep-strike drones — and is designed for pre-planned, static targets. It is in service with the British, French and Italian air forces.
CNN reported that Paris and Kyiv want a Ukrainian SCALP production line running by the end of the year, and that Monday's declassification is a key step towards it, while cautioning that scaling up production could take several years.
The declassification also reflects the limits of what Britain can still hand over. The UK defence minister, Luke Pollard, told LBC: "We've certainly exhausted the kit that we are gifting," saying the government was shifting towards co-developing technologies with Ukraine, including SCALP, low-cost cruise and ballistic missiles, air defence and counter-drone systems. Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Pollard said the blueprints were being shared so Ukraine could "defend against this illegal invasion that's now killed so many people", noting that shopping centres and housing were being targeted.
That reference points to the events immediately preceding the visit. Reuters reported that at least 16 people were killed and more than 130 wounded on Friday when Russian drones struck a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's home city, with 22 children among the wounded. Zelenskyy said on Telegram the drones struck in two waves, the second targeting emergency responders, and called the attack "an act of barbarism". Kyiv Post initially reported a slightly different toll of at least 15 killed and 23 children among the injured. Reuters also recorded 17 people killed in a Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv the previous day.
On Saturday, Vladimir Putin said Kyiv had opened "Pandora's box" with strikes on Russian economic targets and would face responses against its "most sensitive economic sectors", ABC News reported.
Speaking in front of Saint Sophia cathedral on Monday, Zelenskyy said Ukrainians "will not be cobblestones under the feet of tsars and rulers" and "will not submit", according to LBC. He also announced that ten Ukrainian prisoners of war previously listed as missing in action had been released via Belarus, France 24 reported.
Air defence dominated the coalition's agenda. Brussels Signal reports that Ukraine received 675 American Patriot interceptors in 2023 and 364 in 2025, with 264 projected for 2026; the same account says Kyiv has asked for at least 300 for the coming winter, while MercoPress puts Zelenskyy's request at 360. Washington has been managing its own shortfall since its war on Iran, and awarded Raytheon a $22.9bn contract on 17 August to increase cruise missile output. Money was also on the table: France 24 reported the EU announced the release of more than €6bn, while Brussels Signal said €30bn in blocked EU funding remained under discussion — a separate and unresolved question.
Relations between London and Moscow have deteriorated sharply in recent weeks. Russia's ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, has left his post with no replacement yet put forward, Sky News and PA have reported. On 17 August, after The Times reported that British-made drones had struck the Russian mainland for the first time since February 2022, the Russian embassy said "London is deliberately opting for an escalation", accused Britain of acting "by proxy" and warned that "London's actions will inevitably carry consequences". Burnham replied the following day that Britain supported Ukraine "100% against this illegal war", adding: "We are not fair-weather friends."
Burnham has been prime minister for barely five weeks. Government records show he took office on 20 July, after winning the Makerfield by-election on 18 June with a majority above 9,000 and close to 55% of the vote, following Josh Simons's resignation of the seat in May. Sir Keir Starmer announced his own resignation four days after that by-election, with 322 of 403 Labour MPs backing Burnham on the first day of nominations, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, which also cites an Ashcroft poll putting public confidence in the new prime minister at 27%.
Zelenskyy was the first foreign leader to visit Downing Street after the handover, and the two men met troops aboard a Royal Navy carrier at Portsmouth on 27 July, where Number 10 put total British support for Ukraine at £25bn since 2022 — £16bn of it military, £5.6bn non-military, and £3bn a year pledged "for as long as it takes". Norway's prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, pledged $9bn for 2027 during a Nordic and Baltic leaders' visit to Kyiv on Sunday, describing the sum as "a record high".
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