Ukraine’s plea to Trump as UK signs security pact citing ‘Russian aggression’ as Europe’s greatest challenge

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged the United States to provide more ammunition for its Patriot air defence systems to counter Russian ballistic missiles.

The appeal underscores Ukraine’s almost total reliance on its Western allies to down Russian missile barrages, despite having pioneered a system for intercepting long-range drones that is the envy of some of the world’s most advanced militaries.

It comes as the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed a defence pact with Poland, arguing the European allies faced “no greater challenge” than “Russian aggression”.

The security treaty signed by the UK and Poland aims to allow the two countries to combine their armed forces’ expertise and industrial capability, including developing and manufacturing “next-generation complex weapons”, the UK Government said.

It also paves the way for large‑scale joint exercises by land forces and for London and Warsaw to boost the use of uncrewed systems to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank, it said.

Just days ago, Russia launched one of the worst combined missile and drone attacks against Kyiv since it invaded Ukraine more than four years ago, which wrought devastation across the capital.

“There’s no greater challenge for either of our countries than the challenge of Russian aggression,” Mr Starmer said after signing the treaty at a World War II-era bunker on a former military base in London.

“And we see that not just in Ukraine itself, but beyond Ukraine, impacting on our own countries,” he added, calling the treaty “a generational uplift” in the allies’ security and defence relationship.

Plea for help

In a letter dated May 26 and addressed to President Donald Trump, President Zelensky asked Washington to “help us secure this vital tool of protection against Russian terror — Patriot missiles PAC-3 and additional systems — to stop Russian ballistic missiles and other Russian missile attacks.”

Zelensky conceded in the five-page document, which was also addressed to Congress, that: “when it comes to defending against ballistic missiles, we rely almost exclusively on the United States.”

“And it is in Ukrainian hands that Patriot systems have proven something extremely important: The majority of Russian missiles can be stopped,” the Ukrainian leader added.

Zelensky’s appeal comes at a turbulent moment in ties between Ukraine and the United States.

Trump re-entered the White House last year vowing to bring about a speedy end to Russia’s invasion -- now grinding through its fifth year.

‘Hard to find missiles’

But US-led efforts to bring Kyiv and Moscow back to the negotiating table have been derailed by the US and Israeli war with Iran, as well as a failure to make progress on key sticking points towards any peace deal, in particular who would control swathes of eastern Ukraine.

Both sides have stepped up their long-range drone and missiles attacks since a series of bilateral talks mediated by the United States earlier this year appeared to stall.

In separate comments to AFP, a senior official within the Ukrainian presidency conceded that finding ammunition for advanced air defence systems supplied by Kyiv’s Western allies was “complicated.”

“It’s just hard to find missiles right now when there are so many other orders in the Gulf and other places like that,” the source said.

“And the supplies through PURL have slowed down as well,” the source added, referring to a procurement system whereby Ukraine’s European allies can purchase weapons from the United States on behalf of Kyiv.

The war in the Middle East, which saw US allies expend huge quantities of air defence ammunition protecting sites in the Gulf, has exacerbated a shortage Ukraine has faced since the start of the war.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s success in drone warfare has attracted the attention of rich Gulf states that have been targeted with the same types of Iranian-designed drones that Ukraine is now well versed in countering.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was launched by the Kremlin with the intention of speedily toppling the government in Kyiv and forcing the country’s capitulation.

More than four years on, it is the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II, having cost hundreds of thousands of lives and forced the displacement of millions.

Security agreement

The UK and Polish agreement’s security elements will also bolster information-sharing and other cooperation to tackle organised crime and aid joint work on cyber, migration and health security.

It follows Britain signing similar defence pacts with Germany and France in recent years.

Poland — an EU and NATO member that shares its eastern border with Russia, Belarus and Ukraine — also recently inked a deal in Paris to ramp up joint defence ties.

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk thanked Starmer for his commitment to defending “shared values” like the rule of law, democracy and human rights, saying they were “important for us and for our nations”.

“That is the foundation of the treaty,” he noted, speaking through an interpreter.

The pair had earlier held bilateral talks at the Royal Air Force’s nearby base at Northolt.

They were expected to discuss the uptick in allegedly Russian-ordered arson attacks in London and elsewhere across Europe, as well as other malign threats, Starmer’s office said in advance.

The signing came on the same day as the head of the UK’s top-secret electronic eavesdropping agency GCHQ accused Russia of “relentlessly” targeting critical infrastructure, democratic processes, supply chains and public trust in Britain and Europe.

Delivering an inaugural annual lecture, Anne Keast-Butler detailed how Moscow has been increasing its hybrid activity against some European countries, as she urged the public and businesses to make cyber security “10 times more urgent”.

Keast-Butler — appointed GCHQ’s first woman chief in 2023 — noted her agency’s work focused on “disrupting Russia’s efforts to smuggle western tech, fending off cyber attacks, and countering reckless sabotage and assassination attempts”.