Home › Politics › What the UK–Ukraine 100-year pact signalled
What the UK–Ukraine 100-year pact signalled
Summary
A look back at the agreement Keir Starmer travelled to Kyiv to sign, set beside the war's widening international dimension.
What did a 100-year agreement mean for a country still at war? On 16 January 2025, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited Kyiv to sign a pact with Ukraine that was to formalise British economic and military support for the country.
A long horizon
The length of the commitment was the notable feature. The agreement covered both economic and military support, placing the relationship on a formal footing rather than leaving it to separate, case-by-case decisions. The visit to Kyiv itself carried weight as a gesture of presence in the capital.
A war with wider participants
The signing came days after another development that showed how far the conflict had spread beyond the two main belligerents. On 11 January 2025, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine had captured two North Korean soldiers in Kursk Oblast, Russia. They were in healthy condition, and it was the first such capture since North Korea entered the war; the two earlier North Korean prisoners had died of their injuries shortly after capture.
North Korea's support for Russia was not new. It has backed Moscow since 2017, when it recognised the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea. In July 2022 it recognised the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, and Ukraine responded by severing diplomatic ties.
Reading the two together
Set side by side, the two events show different kinds of alignment around the war: a formal, long-term partnership between London and Kyiv, and North Korean troops fighting on Russia's side in Kursk Oblast. The 16 January visit gave Ukraine a written commitment of British support at a time when the war had drawn in a further state.
