For President Volodymyr Zelensky, it’s been a week full of crucial international meetings and strategic negotiations.
After one day in Brussels, meeting top European Union officials at the EU-Ukraine summit on Oct. 6, Zelensky set off to the United Kingdom with an impressive to-do list for a two-day visit.
During the first day, on Oct. 7, Zelensky met British royals in Buckingham Palace, Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton, and went to the U. K. Royal Navy base in Portsmouth to see modern defense equipment, including weapons.
The next day, the president arrived at Downing Street to meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and sign a strategic agreement on political, civil and trade cooperation.
“It is a historic visit,” Zelensky said about the trip.
Royal family visit
Zelensky and First Lady Olena Zelenska were the first international guests Buckingham Palace has received in nearly seven months, since the U.K. announced the coronavirus lockdown on March 16.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge met the Zelenskys in the opulent Throne Room. They didn’t shake hands and kept a safe distance, even though neither was wearing a mask.
Sitting in the largest hall in the palace, typically used for larger royal events, the couples mainly discussed social and environmental topics, as well as cooperation on medical rehabilitation of servicemen and equal access to the COVID‑19 vaccine when it is developed.
Britain’s Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and his wife Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife Olena, during an audience at Buckingham Palace in London on Oct. 7, 2020. (Ukrainian presidential press ser)
Post-Brexit partnership
Another first between Ukraine and Britain happened on Oct. 8, when the countries signed an agreement with hundreds of pages — the first bilateral deal between Kyiv and London.
As the U.K. is no longer a member of the EU since February the country’s leadership is in a hurry to sign agreements with other partner countries during the transition period until the end of 2020.
The new deal, which Johnson called the “next chapter” in U.K.-Ukraine relationships, is supposed to “bring increased security and prosperity” for both nations; it includes a comprehensive preferential free trade agreement covering goods, services, quotas and tariffs.
“It will intensify our relationships between Britain and Ukraine, which has been developing very well in the last few years,” said Johnson. The trade volume between the two countries reached $2.56 billion in 2019, increasing every year since 2016.
The new agreement also includes U.K. commitments in several other areas — defense and security, peaceful conflict resolution in the Donbas, human rights, and climate change.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba named the results of the meeting a “historical moment.”
“The two flanks of Europe — western and eastern — have become even closer,” wrote Kuleba on Twitter. “It means more trade, more security, more cooperation between Ukraine and the U.K.”
The U. K. will also give Ukraine $6.4 million as humanitarian aid to support people in eastern Ukraine affected by both the war with Russia and the COVID‑19 pandemic.
“The aid will enable the provision of food, water, medical supplies and psychosocial support for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence,” reads the U.K. government website.
The U. K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab believes that by providing humanitarian aid and signing the large-scale agreement his country clearly demonstrates “commitment to Ukraine’s prosperity and security.”
“Ukraine’s stability is vital for Europe’s security,” said Raab.
Military cooperation
Ukrainian Minister of Defense Andriy Taran and U. K. Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace signed on Oct. 7 another crucial document for Ukraine — a memorandum on military cooperation.
The document secures a 10-year loan worth $1.61 billion to build eight Barzan-class fast attack missile warships for the Ukrainian Navy to defend the country on the Black Sea.
The first two vessels will be made in the U. K. Other six fast strike crafts, warships, will be built in Ukraine after the U.K. transfers all the required technologies.
According to the presidential website, it will “significantly reduce the time of implementation of joint projects in the defense sector, which is critical in the context of aggravation of the situation in the Black Sea region.”
