UK officials are making preparations for a potential meeting between Andy Burnham and Donald Trump after the prime minister said he hoped to attend next month’s UN general assembly in New York.
Burnham is known to be particularly keen to attend the annual gathering after meeting Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Monday, when he pledged to help drum up more international support for Ukraine.
Any meeting with the US president, whether in New York or Washington, is notably more speculative. But British officials who had already begun planning for a first encounter are understood to be stepping up their work given Burnham’s expected trip.
As part of a series of interviews in Kyiv during his first overseas trip as PM, Burnham told Bloomberg: “I’m looking forward to going to New York in September.”
Speaking after a meeting with Zelenskyy, he said: “I’ve not fully confirmed the details yet, but it’s likely I will go, particularly after today’s discussion. Leaving today, I’m quite clear what I need to do in the next few weeks.”
Chairing a meeting in Kyiv of the “coalition of the willing” group of countries that are supporting Ukraine, Burnham urged the international community to do more to protect the country against Russian attacks, particularly with more US-made Patriot interceptor missiles.
He told LBC in another interview: “We need to go further together … There is an urgent need for air defence support.” That was “the big takeaway” from his meetings with Zelenskyy, he said.
The general assembly would be just one part of international efforts to generate more support for Ukraine, particularly in the form of missiles. The defence secretary, Wes Streeting, will co-chair a meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group in September. The group, which includes all ۳۲ Nato members and ۲۵ other countries, coordinates the supply of military assistance.
Attending the UN gathering, which almost ۲۰۰ world leaders will attend from ۲۲ to ۲۸ September, would give Burnham an opportunity to press the case about more support for Ukraine, as would a meeting with Trump.
Burnham and the foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, would discuss a series of other global issues at the assembly, including Gaza and the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. The meeting will coincide with the first anniversary of Keir Starmer’s decision to formally recognise a Palestinian state.
It would give Burnham the opportunity to meet a number of other world leaders at once, though bilateral talks tend to be brief given the frenetic schedule of the gathering.
The prime minister’s policy background is predominantly domestic, and since entering No ۱۰ he has had to rapidly develop a foreign policy – thus far very similar to that of Starmer – and get to know world leaders.
He joined a number of other European leaders, including the European council president, António Costa, in laying wreaths for Ukraine’s Independence Day in Kyiv on Monday.
after newsletter promotion
He also used the trip to announce that the UK government would allow the European defence company MBDA to declassify information about British-made components of the Anglo-French Storm Shadow/Scalp missiles to help Ukraine build its own version.
Burnham told Zelenskyy during their meeting that there would be “no change in the UK’s steadfast support” for Kyiv.
He also urged Ukraine’s allies to send more Patriot missiles as Ukraine struggles under continued Russian bombardment, and co-chaired his first “coalition of the willing” meeting, where he said the group was doing everything it could to “dig into our own stocks and help others dig into their stocks”.
Zelenskyy has pleaded for more US-made interceptor missiles in recent months as Kyiv’s stocks have diminished. Supplies of Patriots have been diverted to the Middle East since the the US and Israel launched their war against Iran, and Ukraine has received significantly fewer this year than in previous years.
During his interview with Bloomberg, Burnham said he felt “really confident” the weaponry problem was fixable. “There are other players who could help in the mix who we have influence with. It’s probably going to be a solution that involves a lot of layers and a lot of negotiation,” he said.
Russia has sought to capitalise on the shortage by increasing its ballistic missile strikes, killing at least ۲۳ people and wounding more than ۱۰۰ in the past three days.
Moscow has also threatened unspecified retaliation for what it says is the UK’s increased involvement in the conflict.
