Starmer says UK will support Ukraine to 'win this terrible war' through 100-year deal

Luke Harding

Keir Starmer has announced a "historic" 100-year partnership with Ukraine, saying the UK will support the country "beyond this terrible war" and towards a future "free and prosperous again".

Starmer, on his first visit to Kyiv as prime minister, said the unprecedented deal reflected the "huge feeling between our two countries". He added that "Putin currently shows no sign of wanting to stop" his "relentless aggression."

This was dramatically underlined when a Russian drone flew over Zelensky's Mariinsky Palace in Kiev as the two leaders were holding talks. Anti-aircraft fire erupted as drones buzzed overhead.

A loud roar was heard as Ukrainian air defense forces tried to shoot it down. City officials said there were no injuries, but falling debris damaged a car.

Ukrainian police said on Friday that its officers were conducting 200 searches across the country as part of an ongoing investigation into military-age men illegally leaving the country.

Kiev has been pushing for a broad and divisive mobilization campaign to bolster its military, which is working to stem the advance of Russia's much larger army in several areas along the front, AFP reported.

"National police forces are conducting more than 200 searches in cases of illegal border crossing of Ukrainian men eligible for military service," the national police said in a statement.

The raids announced on Friday were just the latest step in a nationwide investigation launched by law enforcement last week, when Kyiv said police were searching about 600 homes, offices and other premises.

Police said last week that the operation was targeting organizers of a program that helped recruit deserters to illegally cross the Ukrainian border.

Police said on Friday they were conducting searches in 19 different areas and released photos of officers carrying weapons entering and using cameras at private homes and offices.

Hello and welcome to Ukraine Live Blog. I'm Tom Ambrose and I'm bringing you all the latest news from today's clash.

Let's start with the news Ukrainian air defenses shot down 33 of 50 drones launched by Russia overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Friday..

Nine drones were "lost," the statement said, referring to Ukraine's use of electronic warfare to redirect the Russian drones, while one left Ukraine for Romania.

In other news:

• Ukraine is to receive a new, rapidly developing, bespoke air defense system called Tomb Eagle as part of support announced by Keir Starmer during a visit to Kyiv on Thursday. The system, which is about the size of a shipping container and was developed by Britain and Denmark, allows Ukraine to shoot down airborne threats using modified air-to-air missiles that are launched from the ground - meaning it can shoot down airborne threats, according to the British government. Russian missiles and drones can be shot down "using Ukrainian missiles already possessed by its armed forces." British government reveals two Tombhawk prototypes Tested in Ukraine in September, 15 will be sent this year.

• Ukraine's military said on Thursday it had attacked a large Russian military fuel warehouse in Liskinska, Russia's Voronezh region. Drones cause "massive fires". Voronezh Region Governor Alexander Gusev confirmed that several drones "caused a fire at an oil depot." Video posted by witnesses showed the severity of the fire.

• A major gunpowder factory in Russia's Tambov region was attacked, a Ukrainian official said on Thursday, but did not directly claim Ukraine was responsible for the attack or specify its consequences. “This enterprise is one of the main suppliers of explosive materials to the Russian Federation’s military,” said Andrei Kovalenko, director of Ukraine’s Counter-Disinformation Center.

• France and Norway will fulfill their commitment to deliver fighter jets to Ukraine on schedulethe two defense ministers said in Oslo on Thursday. Norway has pledged to provide Ukraine with six U.S.-made F-16s, to be delivered in 2024 and 2025, while France has said it will deliver an unspecified number of Mirage 2000-5s in the first quarter of 2025.

• A Ukrainian brigade used ground drones equipped with machine guns and mines to carry out what it said was the first recorded purely robotic ground attack in the war with Russia. The Hatiya brigade said assault, mine-laying and mine-clearing vehicles guided by drones were used in attacks in the northeastern region of Kharkiv last month. The brigade said the operation paved the way for a successful infantry advance. "They get as close as possible to the (Russian) bomb shelter and then explode," a Ukrainian crew member explained to Reuters.

• Ukraine said on Thursday it had sentenced a former local official to 15 years in prison for treason for aiding Russian forces. Local media identified him as Oleksandr Kurpil, the mayor of Trostianets town in Sumy region, and said he was detained in May 2022.

• Russia's human rights monitor said on Thursday she had discussed the search for missing residents of Russia's Kursk border region with her Ukrainian counterpart after Ukrainian troops seized territory there last August. Ukraine says about 2,000 civilians remain in territory it controls, while Russia says fewer than 1,000 are missing. Russian Ombudsman Tatyana Moskova called the talks "a major step forward in strengthening trust and achieving concrete joint action." Ukraine's Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Rubinets confirmed that they "agreed to continue exchanging information with each other on the search for missing persons among prisoners of war."

• Ukrainian Deputy Economy Minister Andrii Teliupa said on Thursday that Ukraine's gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to slow to 2.7% this year from around 3.6% in 2024. This forecast is lower than the 3-4% expected by most Ukrainian analysts and economists. Ukrainian businesses are facing staff shortages as tens of thousands of Ukrainian men have been drafted into the army and millions of refugees remain stranded abroad. Ukraine is also grappling with an energy crisis as Russia bombards the industry.

• A compensation program for Ukrainians who lost close relatives during the Russian invasion was launched on Thursday. Thousands of requests for damages have been received. The Ukrainian Damage Register, located in The Hague, aims to record all eligible claims seeking compensation for damages, losses and injuries caused by Russia’s comprehensive invasion. The register, created by the European Commission and joined by the EU, will eventually calculate the financial total for claims against Moscow.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will meet in Russia on Friday and sign a strategic cooperation agreement. Russia's state-owned TASS news agency quoted Iran's ambassador to Moscow, Kazim Jalali, as saying the cooperation agreement would not include the mutual defense clauses signed by Moscow with North Korea and Belarus. Ukraine said in 2024 that Russia had launched more than 8,000 Iranian-developed Shahd drones since the invasion. Kyiv first accused Iran of supplying drones to Russia in the fall of 2022.