UK foreign secretary visits Kyiv, reaffirms support to Ukraine

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) – British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visited Kyiv, reaffirming his country’s support ahead of a conference aimed at helping Ukraine rebuild the damage caused by the war with Russia.

Cleverly arrived to Kyiv on Monday, his second visit to Kyiv since the beginning of Russia's war. He reiterated UK's support "both on the battlefield and during its recovery," according to statement by UK Foreign Office on Tuesday.

The British foreign secretary met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to discuss how the UK can continue to further support Ukraine, from the battlefield to banking guarantees, added the statement.

"As Ukraine continues its sustained fightback against Russia, I was able to see for myself the true horrors and devastation of what Russia has wreaked on this sovereign state," said Cleverly.

"Forcibly deporting children, razing cities like Bakhmut, Izium and Mariupol to the ground and committing atrocities are not the acts of a responsible international state," he stated, adding that this is a violation of the UN Charter.

Cleverly's visit came ahead of the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2023), which will take place on June 21-22 in London.

URC 2023 will be held jointly by the UK and Ukraine. It is a continuation of the cycle of annual events, with the last one conducted with Switzerland in Lugano.

This year’s conference will bring together world leaders, business chief executives, NGOs and the Ukrainian Government to discuss how to rebuild and strengthen the country’s economic outlook.

The conference is dedicated to Ukraine's transformation and was symbolically launched in London in 2017 as the Ukraine Reform Conference.