Russia Strikes Kyiv Hours Before Starmer’s Farewell Visit
Russian missiles hit two districts of Kyiv early on Thursday, killing at least two people, including a teenager, and setting warehouses ablaze, only hours before Sir Keir Starmer was due in the city on his final foreign trip as Prime Minister to meet President Zelensky. The strike came days after Ukraine and nine European states launched a coalition to build a shared missile defence, and as Mr Zelensky reshuffled his government, dismissing his defence minister. President Putin has vowed retaliation “several times more powerful” for Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries.
The timing of the strike — hours before an outgoing British Prime Minister arrives to reaffirm support — is a message from Moscow that it is unmoved by Europe’s deepening commitment to Ukraine’s defence. That commitment is real: the new coalition is an admission that Europe can no longer assume the American shield will always be there, and a bet that building interceptors itself, around Ukraine’s home-grown programme, is cheaper than buying them from Washington. Zelensky’s reshuffle, removing a defence minister once seen as a rising star, is the kind of wartime shake-up that signals either a search for fresh momentum or friction over strategy. For Britain, the visit is a bookend to Starmer’s premiership, his Ukraine record the one part of his foreign policy that drew cross-party praise. Watch the confirmed Kyiv toll, the shape of Zelensky’s new team, and whether the European coalition’s money materialises.