Ukraine: David Cameron visits Kyiv on first foreign trip

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Cameron traveled to Kyiv and met President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for talks on his first working trip abroad, the Ukrainian leader said.

Former Prime Minister Cameron, who was appointed Britain's new foreign secretary on Monday, said in a video released by Zelenskyy's office that he wanted to underscore London's support for Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said he was grateful for the gesture, which comes amid a conflict in the West Asia that he said has drawn global attention away from Ukraine's war with Russia, now in its 21st month with no end in sight.

Meanwhile, a Russian artist who replaced supermarket price tags with messages calling for an end to Moscow's war in Ukraine is expected to learn her fate in a St. Petersburg court, with a prosecutor asking that she be jailed for eight years.

Russian artist who criticised Ukraine war faces sentence

A Russian artist who replaced supermarket price tags with messages calling for an end to Moscow's war in Ukraine is expected to learn her fate in a St. Petersburg court on Thursday, with a prosecutor asking that she be jailed for eight years.

Critics say the case of 33-year-old Alexandra Skochilenko is part of a crackdown on anyone who speaks out against Russia's "special military operation" that has led to nearly 20,000 arrests and more than 800 criminal cases.

Skochilenko has admitted that on March 31, 2022, she replaced price tags in a supermarket in her native St. Petersburg with small pieces of paper calling for an end to the war and criticising the authorities.

But Skochilenko, who has already spent more than a year and a half in prison, denies the formal charge of knowingly spreading false information about the Russian army.

Her lawyers told the court that their client had only acted out of conscience, had committed no crime, and would not survive in prison because of pre-existing health problems.

Russia says it repelled drone attacks over Bryansk

Russia said that it repelled several Ukrainian drone attacks over its own territory. A total of five unmanned missiles were shot down by Russian air defenses over the western region of Bryansk and off the annexed Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, according to the Defense Ministry.

Russia has been waging a war against Ukraine for more than 20 months. In its defense against the Russian invasion, Ukraine has repeatedly fired on Russian territory.

However the scale of damage is miniscule compared to the destruction caused by Russia's bombardment of Ukrainian cities and towns since they began their invasion in February 2022.

Cameron meets Zelenskyy in Kyiv on first trip abroad as UK's foreign secretary

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Cameron met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for talks on his first working trip abroad, the Ukrainian leader said Thursday.

Former Prime Minister Cameron, who was appointed Britain's new foreign secretary on Monday, said in a video released by Zelenskyy's office that he wanted to underscore London's support for Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said he was grateful for the gesture, which comes amid a conflict in West Asia that he said has drawn global attention away from Ukraine's war with Russia, now in its 21st month with no end in sight.

"The world is not so focused on the battlefield situation in Ukraine, and this dividing of the focus really does not help," he said.
Britain has been a close ally of Ukraine throughout the full-scale war launched by Russia in February 2022.

"What I want to say by being here is that we will continue to give you the moral support, diplomatic support... but above all the military support that you need not just this year and next year, but however long it takes," Cameron said.

He added that Britain would work with its allies "to make sure the attention is here in Ukraine."

Cameron also met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba who wrote that the talks "proved that Ukraine and the UK are determined to work together toward victory."

Cameron's trip was unannounced, and the Ukrainian statement did not say when the talks took place. Tight security measures in place because of the war mean details of visits by foreign dignitaries are sometimes released some time after they take place.