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What did Starmer's Kyiv visit promise Ukraine?
Summary
A look back at the 100-year agreement signed in Kyiv, set against two days of heavy long-range strikes by both sides.
What did a 100-year agreement mean for Ukraine on 16 January 2025? That day, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited Kyiv to sign a pact with Ukraine intended to formalise British economic and military support for the country.
The visit came at the end of two days of intense fighting far from the front line.
Strikes on both sides
On 14 January 2025, Ukraine struck targets in the Republic of Tatarstan and in Bryansk, Saratov and Tula oblasts in Russia. According to the account at the time, it used more than 200 drones and five ATACMS ballistic missiles. The targets included ammunition depots, industrial plants and a refinery. Ukraine described the operation as its most massive and deepest attack inside Russia so far.
On 15 January 2025, Russia answered with a major ballistic and cruise missile attack on regions across Ukraine. The strikes targeted energy production and forced the authorities to shut down the power grid.
The agreement
Against that backdrop, the agreement signed in Kyiv on 16 January 2025 was framed around a century-long commitment. Its stated purpose was to put British economic and military backing for Ukraine on a formal footing.
The sequence of events across those three days showed the pattern of the war at the time: long-range strikes by each side on the other's industrial and energy infrastructure, and a diplomatic effort by a key European partner to lock in support over the long term.
