Britain's support for Ukraine will not change, Andy Burnham has said, amid news that the head of the CIA has travelled to Russia for unannounced talks.
CIA chief's visit to Moscow
CIA chief John Ratcliffe made his first known visit to Moscow for talks with Russian officials on Tuesday.
One of the last known times a CIA chief travelled to Russia was when Mr Ratcliffe's predecessor William Burns held talks in the months ahead of the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The visit has sparked widespread speculation that it could be pre-empting new military action of some kind by Vladimir Putin.
Prime Minister's reassurance
Asked if Britons should be worried that the talks herald the possibility of attacks by the Russians on the UK, Prime Minister Mr Burnham told broadcasters: “It's a challenging situation when we look around the world right now.
“But from what we're doing, people need to be sure of this: We're doing what we've done since the start of this conflict, which is to provide that back-up support to Ukraine to be able to defend themselves, because they do need to do that.
“They are obviously in an impossible situation, so challenging, but Britain needs to be there and be a constant as they go through this illegal invasion that they're facing.
“So, we will continue to do that. Prime ministers before me gave that assurance and I visited Ukraine to send a really clear message to the Ukrainian people that Britain isn't changing course. We said we would support them. We are supporting them, and that won't change.”
Visit to Kyiv and upcoming Washington trip
The Prime Minister on Monday travelled to Kyiv, his first visit to Ukraine since coming to office.
During a meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr Burnham reiterated there would be “no change in the UK's steadfast support” for Kyiv.
He also urged Ukraine's allies to send more interceptor missiles to Kyiv, and co-chaired his first coalition of the willing meeting, where he said the group was doing “everything we can” to “dig into our own stocks and help others dig into their stocks”.
Mr Burnham plans to lobby US president Donald Trump for more support for Ukraine's defence in a trip to Washington in September.
