'We'll sleep well tonight': Ukrainian woman jokes that Burnham's visit will stop bombing after chance meeting with PM
A Ukrainian woman has told LBC she felt safer after spotting the Prime Minister on Kyiv’s metro.
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Natalia Bezrodeko said there was a joke in the Ukrainian capital that residents could “sleep quietly” if a UK Prime Minister was in town — because Russian bombing would stop.
The PM was making his first visit to a foreign nation when he went to Kyiv — and had a chance meeting with Bezrodeko while riding the metro.
When riding the train, Ms Bezrodeko spotted the newly-appointed Prime Minister.
After approaching him, she asked him whether she could have a selfie with him.
Natalia, who lives near a recently struck munitions plant in the Lukyanivka area, said her building had also been damaged and that she now spends nights in a shelter amid increasingly frequent attacks.
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“We don’t sleep,” she told LBC. “We stay over there through the night, and then we get up and run here to the metro very, very fast.”
The Prime Minister used the visit to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and to urge the United States and other allies to do more to support the war-ravaged nation.
Speaking to LBC, Mr Burnham said there is an immediate need for further air defence and anti-ballistic missile support, when asked whether he had pressed President Donald Trump to provide more support.
He said: “We need to go further together, I think, because there are some urgent problems that Ukraine is facing.”
The Prime Minister added: “There is an urgent need for air defence support, and that's the big takeaway from the meeting today.”
Mr Burnham said the US had already provided defensive support, and that he expected this to continue.
However, he also stressed the need for further financial backing from Ukraine’s allies.
He said: “There's also a need for financial support, so we will do whatever we can to convene people to share that burden together, and we'll continue to provide steadfast support.”
The Prime Minister was in Kyiv to mark the 35th anniversary of Ukraine's independence, and unveiled plans to share blueprints to help Ukraine produce Storm Shadow cruise missiles domestically.