Andy Burnham has met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on his first foreign visit as prime minister in Kyiv, where he will hand over long-range missile blueprints,
BBC reports.
The prime minister will later chair his first meeting of the "coalition of the willing", set up by the UK and France under his predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer.
Crucially for Ukraine, he will announce his government has agreed to allow defence company MBDA to declassify information on UK components for the long-range Scalp missile – the French equivalent of the UK's Storm Shadow.
Speaking alongside Zelensky, Burnham said "despite Russia's outrageous threats to my country" the UK will continue to support Ukraine.
"This is the moment to keep up the pressure on Russia, the moment to squeeze their ability to fund this illegal war," he said, praising the "strength" of the Ukrainian people.
"Ukraine has been Europe's protector, not a drain on our security but the front line in keeping Europe safe."
It comes after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov criticised the UK's decision to share the missile blueprints. Peskov said it prevented "even the slightest progress" towards achieving peace.
He told reporters on Monday that the Russian military was already gathering data to locate any missile production sites to destroy them.
