Ben Lowry: Rishi Sunak's visit to Kyiv is latest display of vital UK-US support for Ukraine and Israel

​What a joy it is to see Rishi Sunak photographed in Kyiv yesterday.
By Ben Lowry
Published 13th Jan 2024, 03:07 BST
PABest Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is welcomed by President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) on Friday to the Presidential Palace in Kyiv, Ukraine, to announce £2.5 billion in military aid to the country over the coming year. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA WirePABest Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is welcomed by President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) on Friday to the Presidential Palace in Kyiv, Ukraine, to announce £2.5 billion in military aid to the country over the coming year. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
PABest Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is welcomed by President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) on Friday to the Presidential Palace in Kyiv, Ukraine, to announce £2.5 billion in military aid to the country over the coming year. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

(Read Ben Lowry’s main column click here: There is now essentially no opposition to the coming general strike in NI)

​The UK is offering £2.5 billion in aid over the coming year to the country, which has been invaded by Ukraine.

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Support for Kyiv was ambivalent in much of Europe and parts of America from the moment of the invasion almost two years ago. France and to a lesser extent Germany seemed keen to resolve Vladimir Putin’s aggression through mediation for selfish trade reasons. Britain and the United States were strong for Ukraine. Boris Johnson was at his best travelling to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to show unequivocal moral backing. President Joe Biden was similarly supportive. Now voices in both countries, particularly in the US Republican Party, would cut Ukraine loose. The influential commentator Tucker Carlson thinks President Putin isn’t so bad.

I believe that President Biden, who was already showing obvious signs of cognitive difficulty in the 2020 presidential election race four years ago, stands again he will be beaten by the increasingly unhinged Donald Trump – a disaster for the world.

Support for Israel and Ukraine is declining in both UK and US. Young people, the greatest beneficiaries of western freedoms and values, seem to have no notion of the extent to which those two nations share our values, while their foes do not.

• Ben Lowry (@BenLowry2) is News Letter editor

Related topics:Ben LowryUkraineRishi SunakKyivJoe BidenIsraelVladimir PutinBoris Johnson