UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said that the United Kingdom will continue providing defence aid to war-torn Ukraine despite Russia’s “outrageous threats”.
“Despite Russia’s outrageous threats to my country, we will continue our support for Ukraine’s defence,” Burnham said on Monday in a speech delivered on the country’s Independence Day and ahead of a meeting of its international backers.
The Kremlin on Monday said that Britain was preventing peace in Ukraine by giving Kyiv information needed to produce SCALP long-range missiles, and threatened to destroy plants manufacturing them.
But the British government said it would authorise defence firm MBDA to release information on UK components used in the Franco-British missile, so that Kyiv could produce them domestically.
When asked about the SCALP blueprints, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “Britain is methodically and regularly throwing oil on the fire and methodically and regularly plotting schemes to prevent even the slightest progress in the peace process.”
“Our armed forces are carrying out work accordingly, gathering the relevant intelligence to identify the production sites of such missiles and other military equipment, and taking measures to destroy these facilities,” Peskov said.
The SCALP missile is a long-range cruise missile capable of hitting targets around 250 kilometres (around 150 miles) away.
France and Britain have supplied the weapon to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale offensive in 2022, but Kyiv has not yet produced them domestically.
Burnham visited Kyiv on Monday for Ukraine’s Independence Day commemorations and vowed to maintain Britain’s military backing for the government.
“Despite Russia’s outrageous threats to my country, we will continue our support for Ukraine’s defence,” Burnham said in a speech given ahead of a meeting of Ukraine’s international backers.
