U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy arrive at the train station in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, September 11, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy arrived in Kyiv on a joint visit Wednesday (September 11, 2024), as Ukraine presses the West to allow it to use long-range missiles against Russia.

The top diplomats reached the Ukrainian capital by train hours after the U.S. presidential debate during which Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump sparred over the 2 1/2-year war in Ukraine.

Mr. Blinken travelled from London, where he accused Iran of providing Russia with Fath-360 short-range ballistic missiles, calling the move a “dramatic escalation” of the war.

For months, Ukraine has been requesting approval to use long-range weapons from the United States and Western allies to strike targets in Russia and is expected to press harder given Russia’s latest reported weapons acquisition.

Also Read: Trump vows to end Russia-Ukraine war if elected as U.S. President

“If we are allowed to destroy military targets or weapons prepared by the enemy for attacks on Ukraine, it would certainly bring more safety for our civilians, our people, and our children,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a news conference in Kyiv on Tuesday (September 10, 2024). “We are working towards this and will continue to push for it every day.”

Referring to the missiles from Iran, he added, “Russia’s use of weapons from its terrorist allies to strike at Ukraine continues their genocidal war and terrorism on our territory. We must be able to respond to such terrorism in kind by destroying military targets on their territory to ensure greater safety for our citizens.”

Wednesday’s (September 11, 2024) visit comes ahead of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s upcoming trip to Washington, where he will meet President Joe Biden at the White House on Friday (September 13, 2024).

Russian airstrikes, mostly aimed at crippling Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, have intensified in recent weeks with nightly missile and drone attacks.

As Mr. Blinken and Mr. Lammy arrived in Kyiv, the U.K. announced it was banning 10 commercial ships it accuses of illicitly transporting Russian oil in violation of international sanctions. The U.K. government said the vessels would be barred from British ports and could be detained if they enter.

New Delhi:

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Wednesday began a two-day visit to India to galvanise negotiations for an ambitious Free Trade Agreement and reset the overall bilateral partnership in crucial areas such as clean energy, new technologies and security.

As he embarked on the high-profile trip, Mr Lammy described the negotiations for the trade deal as the floor and not the ceiling of the ambitions to unlock shared potential and deliver growth.

The British foreign secretary’s visit to New Delhi is the first high-level engagement between India and the UK after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government came to power on July 5.

“India is the emerging superpower of the 21st century, the largest country in the world with 1.4 billion people and one of the fastest growing economies in the world,” Mr Lammy said.

“Our Free Trade Agreement negotiations is the floor not the ceiling of our ambitions to unlock our shared potential and deliver growth, from Bengaluru to Birmingham,” he said.

A British government readout said, Mr Lammy will push for a “reset” of the UK-India partnership, including through reinforcing London’s commitment to securing a free trade agreement that will benefit both economies.

It said the foreign secretary will also galvanise support for accelerated action on the climate crisis with India as an “indispensable partner”, driving forward the clean energy transition and creating opportunities for British and Indian businesses.

He will discuss partnering on Indian-led global initiatives to build clean power access, climate resilience in the global south and small island states, it said.

“We have shared interests on the green transition, new technologies, economic security and global security,” Mr Lammy was quoted as saying in the readout.

“I am travelling to India in my first month as Foreign Secretary because resetting our relationship with the Global South is a key part of how this government will reconnect Britain for our security and prosperity at home,” he said.

In a post on ‘X’, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Mr Lammy’s visit will strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

Mr Lammy and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will hold wide-ranging talks this evening that is expected to focus on the FTA and New Delhi’s concerns over activities of pro-Khalistan elements in Britain, people familiar with the matter said.

The British foreign secretary is also scheduled to meet Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal during which both sides are likely to reaffirm their commitment to the proposed free trade pact, they said.

It is learnt both sides have already agreed on almost 90 per cent of the trade pact but the remaining 10 per cent comprised several sticky issues such as import duties on automobiles and scotch whisky and visas for business people.

The British readout said Mr Lammy will highlight the importance of a new partnership with India that focuses on economic, domestic and global security.

Economic, domestic and global security will be at the heart of the foreign secretary’s first visit to India as he travels to New Delhi to unlock the full potential of the UK-India partnership.

He will tell his Indian counterpart that he wants to drive forward greater growth for both countries, it said.

The foreign secretary will underscore the importance of the “living bridge” between the UK and India.

It represents the 1.7 million people with Indian heritage that have made their home in the UK and make an exceptional contribution to British life, the readout released by the UK high commission in New Delhi said.

“In a visit to India’s third largest technology company, the Foreign Secretary will meet business leaders to highlight how the UK and India are working together on shared ambitions such as cutting-edge science to encourage innovation, boost trade, and improve the livelihoods of working people in both countries,” it said.

The foreign secretary will also hold high-level talks with members from the Indian government, including Jaishankar, it said.

Mr Lammy will reiterate the extraordinary contribution of British Indians, saying that they enrich the UK’s social and economic landscape and are the epitome of modern Britain, it added.

In their talks, Jaishankar and Mr Lammy are also expected to review the implementation of the India-UK roadmap that seeks to broad-base the ties in a range of areas.

In 2021, India and the UK adopted the 10-year roadmap to expand ties in key areas of trade and economy, defence and security, climate change and people-to-people connections among others.

Mr Jaishankar and Mr Lammy are also likely to deliberate on pressing global challenges, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the situation in the Middle-East.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Days before the U.K.’s general election, the opposition Labour Party’s shadow Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, reiterated that his party would reset its relationship with India. Mr Lammy is all but certain to be the country’s next Foreign Secretary, given that Labour is most likely — as per polls — to form the next U.K. government after the country’s July 4 elections.

Speaking on June 24 afternoon at the India Global Forum, a weeklong gathering of government officials, politicians, entrepreneurs and industrialists, Mr Lammy outlined some of the areas of cooperation — notably trade, climate and security.

“We need a reset,” he said, saying a reset with of the U.K.’s relationship with the Global South was needed, starting with India.

Referring to former Conservative U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s recital of a colonial-era Rudyard Kipling poem during a visit to a temple in Myanmar, Mr Lammy said, to applause,

“If I recite a poem, it will be by Tagore.” Mr Lammy’s great great grandmother was from Calcutta and was taken (by the British) to the Caribbean as an indentured labourer, he said.

The Labour Party has also been seeking to reset its own relationship with India after some evidence that British Indians, who have traditionally supported the Labour Party were moving to the Conservative Party. The shift, as per some data available from 2021, was led more by Hindus and Christians, rather than Muslims or Sikhs.

U.K.-India FTA ‘A floor not ceiling’

The ‘free trade’ deal (FTA), being negotiated by India and the U.K., was a floor not a ceiling to the relationship Mr Lammy said.

He also stressed the emphasis a Labour government, under Keir Starmer, would place on climate action, including by appointment a climate envoy and reversing the watering down of the U.K.’s climate targets by the Rishi Sunak government.

Speaking of a power alliance abroad, Mr Lammy said, “There can be no energy transition without an Indian energy transition.”

He urged China not to join forces with Russia, Iran and North Korea and urged deeper cooperation between India and the U.K.

“Because we are committed to a free and open Indo Pacific, just like India is,” he said, adding that a Labour government would seek to ramp up its partnership with India across several dimensions: military and maritime cooperation, emerging technology, cyber and supply chain security.

“We are India’s friends, and we are with her and right behind her. This is our message which the UK Carrier Strike Group will carry to the Indian Ocean in 2025,” he said. The Rishi Sunak government had announced in January that the Carrier Strike Group would undertake joint training with Indian forces.