Burnham urges 'coalition of the willing' to 'dig deep into air defence stocks' to protect Ukraine
The PM is currently visiting Kyiv where he is co-chairing his first meeting of the 'coalition of the willing' group of countries allied to Ukraine
Andy Burnham has called on Ukraine's allies to "dig into our own stocks of air defence" to protect the country against Russian missiles.
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The PM made the plea during his first meeting as co-chair of the 'coalition of the willing' group of countries supporting Ukraine.
Burnham urged allies on Monday to "do everything we can" to help Ukraine and said Putin was "hoping he can win through a campaign of terror using ballistic missiles against Ukrainian civilians".
Speaking at the start of the meeting, he went on: "This can never be the route to victory, and we need to be clear in sending that message.
"It means doing everything we can all do, and working with our allies as well, beyond this coalition, to dig into our own stocks of air defence ... to protect Ukraine from the missiles that are falling now."
Read more: 'Who started the fire?: Burnham hits back at Moscow’s claims Britain fuelling fire of Ukraine war
He also said there was a need for more sanctions on Russian oil and gas exports to ramp up the pressure on Moscow.
The PM confirmed that London and Paris would provide missile technology to help Ukraine - after previously announcing plans to hand over Storm Shadow missile blueprints.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also urged the roundtable to help cover a funding gap of 27 billion euros for its defence sector needs in 2026.
It comes as the Kremlin issued a threat to Burnham over the sharing of missile blueprints with Ukraine, as Putin insisted Britain is now "taking part in the war on Ukraine's side".
Burnham's comments come after the UK pledged to give its blueprints of long-range Scalp missiles to aid Ukraine in its own production.
The PM is undertaking his first official trip as prime minister to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital city.
The PM arrived in the Ukrainian capital on Monday morning, as Burnham was pictured shaking hands with Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, at a train station in Kyiv.
Moscow recently threatened “consequences” over the reported use of British drones by Ukraine in its recent ramping up of deep strikes into Russia’s mainland.
Last week, Russia accused the UK of deliberately escalating the conflict in relation to the UK-made drones and said the deeper the country’s involvement became, “the higher the price it will pay”.
Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, has left his post in London in recent weeks.
The Kremlin has not yet put forward a replacement candidate and in the meantime, the charge d’affaires has taken the lead, an embassy spokesman told The Times, raising questions about whether Russia is seeking to downgrade its diplomatic relations with the UK.