Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in the United Kingdom on Wednesday, in a surprise visit.
A UK Royal Air Force C-17 transport plane carrying Zelensky has landed at Stansted Airport, north of London. He was welcomed to the country by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who also tweeted a picture of himself greeting Ukrainian Zelenskyy at the start of the latter's visit to the UK on Wednesday.
"Welcome to the UK, President @ZelenskyyUa," reads the caption.
On his first visit to the UK since the launch of the Russian war, Zelenskyy will arrive at 10 Downing Street, where he will meet Rishi Sunak. The Ukrainian President is also scheduled to address the Parliament.
The visit comes as intelligence suggests Russia is preparing to launch a spring offensive, and as per recent reports, Kremlin has poured troops into the country's Eastern border.
A statement by the UK government officials said the leaders will discuss a two-pronged approach to Britain's support for Ukraine, starting with an immediate surge of military equipment to help counter Russia's "offensive" and reinforced by long-term support.
"I am proud that today we will expand that training from soldiers to marines and fighter jet pilots, ensuring Ukraine has a military able to defend its interests well into the future. It also underlines our commitment to not just provide military equipment for the short term, but a long-term pledge to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine for years to come," he added.
Downing Street said the bolstered training offer will ensure Ukraine's pilots can fly sophisticated North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) standard fighter jets in the future. As part of that long-term capability investment, the UK will work with Ukraine and international allies to coordinate collective support to meet Ukraine's defensive needs.
A training programme for marines will be in addition to the recruit training programme already running in the UK, which has seen 10,000 Ukrainian troops brought to battle readiness in the last six months, and which will upskill a further 20,000 Ukrainian soldiers this year, officials said.
Russia eyeing Kharkiv?
Ukraine's national security chief has said that the country expects Russia to include the northeastern Kharkiv or southern Zaporizhzhia regions as targets of the upcoming offensive.
Oleksiy Danilov, head of the National Security and Defence Council, said Russian forces were probing Kyiv's defences in partially Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia, part of a Moscow-controlled land bridge between eastern Ukraine and Crimea on the southern Black Sea coast.
"Attempts at an offensive in either the Kharkiv or Zaporizhzhia direction will of course be made," he said, speaking in his office in the capital, Kyiv. "How successful they'll be will depend on us."
