Rishi Sunak meets Volodymyr Zelenskiy during a surprise visit to Ukraine | Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak paid a surprise visit to Kyiv on Saturday to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in his first visit to the country since taking office.

Zelenskiy posted a video on Saturday showing him meeting Sunak in the capital. “During today’s meeting, we discussed the most important issues both for our countries and for global security,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Following in the footsteps of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, Sunak has pledged UK support Ukraine in the fight against Russia will remain steadfast.

“In the years to come, we will tell our grandchildren your story, how a proud and sovereign people stood in the face of a terrible attack, how you fought, how you sacrificed, how you won” , Sunak said at a joint press conference. conference.

In response, Zelenskiy hailed a “significant and useful visit for our two countries”, during which the two leaders discussed how to protect “European and Ukrainian energy security” and defense cooperation.

“With friends like you by our side, we are confident in our victory,” he added on Twitter.

Sunak, who has spoken to Zelenskiy several times since he entered Downing Street, used his appearance at the G20 this week to join allies and other Western leaders in condemning Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

Sunak’s arrival was accompanied by the announcement of a £50million defense aid package including 125 anti-aircraft guns and technology to help Ukraine counter drones supplied by the Iran, including radars and anti-drone technology.

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He laid flowers at a memorial for war dead in Kyiv and lit a candle at a memorial for Holodomor famine victims, before meeting emergency personnel at a fire station.

Sunak said it was “deeply humbling” to be in Kyiv. “I am here today to say that the UK and our allies will continue to stand with Ukraine as it fights to end this barbaric war and bring about a just peace,” he said. .

“As the Ukrainian Armed Forces successfully repel Russian forces on the ground, civilians are brutally bombarded from the air. We are now providing new air defence, including anti-aircraft guns, radars and anti-drone equipment, and we are stepping up humanitarian aid for the cold and harsh winter ahead.

“It is very humbling to be in Kyiv today and to have the opportunity to meet those who do so much and pay such a high price.”

The visit comes as Kyiv and several other parts of Ukraine grapple with power shortages after relentless Russian attacks on critical infrastructure.

On Saturday, the head of Ukraine’s largest private energy company urged Ukrainians to consider leaving their country to help save energy.

Moscow, in an attempt to force Ukraine to negotiate an unacceptable peace for Kyiv, has sought to destroy the country’s energy system with a series of massive strikes on electrical and thermal infrastructure. No energy system has ever been subjected to airstrikes so powerful that they threaten such long periods of blackout.

As temperatures dip below freezing and the first snow of the season dusts the streets of Kyiv this week, people across Ukraine are beginning to worry about how to heat their homes due to power outages. electricity caused by Russian bombing as authorities struggle to restore power across the country.

In an interview with the BBC, Maxim Timchenko, managing director of energy company DTEK, said Ukraine’s electricity system was becoming less reliable with each Russian attack. He suggested that reducing electricity consumption was the key to making it work.

“If Ukrainians can find another place to stay for another three or four months, that will be very helpful to the system,” he said, saying people should consider leaving the country as a way to escape. help win the war against Russia.

“If you consume less, hospitals with wounded soldiers will have a guaranteed power supply,” Timchenko added. “This is how we can explain that by consuming less or leaving, they also contribute to others.”

Zelenskiy said around 10 million people were without electricity, describing the electricity situation in more than a dozen regions as “very difficult”.

“The electricity supply situation is difficult in 17 regions and in the capital,” he said. “Things are very difficult in Kyiv region and Kyiv city, Odessa region and also Vinnytsia and Ternopil [areas in western Ukraine].”

On Saturday, Ukraine’s attorney general’s office said at least 437 Ukrainian children had been killed and more than 837 injured as a result of the Russian invasion. The eastern region of Donetsk was the most affected, with 423 children killed or injured, the office said.

Officials said the figures were “not final” as they were still verifying information from active combat zones, liberated areas and territories still occupied by Russian forces.

Ukraine’s military, meanwhile, said it was verifying the authenticity of footage which Moscow says proves Kyiv executed several Russian soldiers who surrendered in what they described as a “war crime “.

Videos circulated on Russian social media this week purporting to show the bodies of Russian servicemen apparently killed after surrendering to Ukrainian troops.

“Before launching an investigation, it must be motivated,” Ukrainian military spokesman Bogdan Senyk told AFP. “We are in the process of establishing whether these videos are fake,” he said, adding that they had been given to “specialists”.

In the footage, the surrendering soldiers lie on the ground in the debris-filled backyard of a house before the video abruptly cuts out when gunshots are heard.

Other images show the bodies of a dozen people surrounded by apparent bloodstains.

“We are aware of the videos and we are reviewing them,” a UN spokesman told AFP on Friday, calling for the perpetrators to be held accountable.

Russia’s Investigative Committee, which investigates major crimes, said it had opened a criminal investigation into “the execution of captured Russian servicemen”.

The incident was not “the first nor the only war crime” committed by Ukrainian forces, according to a Russian Defense Ministry statement.

AFP, AP and Reuters contributed to this report

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