Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he is “looking forward to going to New York” next month for the UN General Assembly, where he will join European leaders lobbying Donald Trump over support for Ukraine
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has revealed he is planning to travel to the US in September to join European leaders in lobbying President Donald Trump over support for Ukraine’s defence.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Mr Burnham said he was “looking forward to going to New York” next month, when the UN General Assembly is due to convene. He confirmed that details of the trip are not yet “fully confirmed” but said it is “likely” to go ahead. The visit would mark Mr Burnham’s first trip to the US since taking office as Prime Minister in July.
The remarks come during Mr Burnham’s inaugural visit to Kyiv as Prime Minister, during which the UK reaffirmed its “unwavering” support for Ukraine. Ukraine, in turn, handed over what officials have described as a “goldmine” of battlefield data to help strengthen British security.
In a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr Burnham stressed there would be “no change in the UK’s steadfast support” for Kyiv.
He also called on Ukraine’s allies to send additional interceptor missiles to Kyiv as the country continues to struggle under relentless Russian bombardment, 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 Zelensky has repeatedly appealed for more US-made Patriot interceptor missiles in recent months as Kyiv’s supplies have dwindled. Patriot supplies have been redirected to the Middle East since the outbreak of war with Iran, leaving Ukraine receiving considerably fewer missiles this year compared to previous years.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Mr Burnham said he felt “really confident” the issue was “fixable”, but added: “There are other players who could help in the mix who we have influence with. It’s probably going to be a solution that involves a lot of layers and a lot of negotiation.”
Russia has sought to exploit the shortage by intensifying its ballistic missile strikes, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 100 in just the past three days. During his one-to-one talks with Mr Zelensky, Downing Street confirmed that Mr Burnham underlined the “strength of unity” amongst coalition of the willing nations.
A No 10 spokeswoman said: “It had been an honest and productive conversation during the coalition of the willing, the leaders agreed, and it was clear the international community needed to step up and ensure Ukraine got the support it needed to defend itself from Russia’s barbaric attacks going into the winter.
“The Prime Minister emphasised the strength of unity among coalition members and reiterated that there would be no change in the UK’s steadfast support. That was further symbolised by the announcement that the UK had agreed that defence firm MBDA could release classified information on UK components for the long-range missile, Scalp, the Prime Minister said.”
Downing Street revealed that Mr Burnham and Mr Zelensky have also signed an agreement granting the Ministry of Defence, alongside selected British companies, access to Ukraine’s “Avengers” AI database.
The deal is anticipated to help the UK draw on Ukraine’s frontline experience and develop AI-driven solutions to national security challenges facing both nations.
Meanwhile, a Kremlin adviser has suggested UK factories producing drones for Ukraine could face attacks from “unknown sources”, following Britain’s agreement to share long-range missile blueprints with the war-torn country.
Former Russian deputy foreign minister Andrei Fedorov told BBC Newsnight he could not “100% exclude” the possibility of “semi-military” action against Britain.
Mr Fedorov said “sooner or later, there might be not only verbal, but maybe some visible reaction from Russia towards the UK”.
When pressed for further details, he said: “There are different discussions how it should look like – it might be so-called technical reaction, maybe some hackers attack from unknown source, not from official level of course. There might be different political steps and I cannot exclude 100% that there might be some semi-military, for example.”
When pushed to clarify what he meant by “semi-military”, he said: “For example, something might happen with enterprises, with the factories which are producing drones for Ukraine, etc etc.”
When asked whether this meant British factories on home soil could face direct military strikes from Russia, the adviser responded: “They could be attacked, not by Russia, but by… from unknown sources.”
During his visit, Mr Burnham picked up a guitar handed to him by a Ukrainian soldier and played Rusholme Ruffians by The Smiths — a moment he later posted on social media. The Prime Minister, who explained it was a Manchester band, strummed a few chords but stopped short of singing, saying music can help “lift spirits” on the front line. Soldiers returned the gesture by singing him an Oasis song.
He later visited a shopping centre reduced to rubble in a Russian attack, where he mixed with local residents and posed for selfies.