Zelenskyy and Starmer urge continuing support for Ukraine against Russia as Iran war steals focus

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LONDON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought support Tuesday from U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, at a time when the Iran war has revived Russia’s ailing economy through increased oil revenue, robbed U.S.-brokered talks to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine of momentum — and could soon limit Kyiv’s access to vital Western air defense systems that are needed in the Middle East.

“We can’t lose focus on what’s going on in Ukraine and the need for our support,” Starmer said alongside Zelenskyy for talks at 10 Downing St., which NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was also expected to attend.

“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin can’t be the one who benefits from the conflict in Iran, whether that’s oil prices or the dropping of sanctions,” Starmer said. “It is really important we keep our resolve in relation to supporting Ukraine, doing everything we can to weaken the hand of Putin."

Zelenskyy said the talks would also assess energy security, after Russia hammered Ukraine's power grid over the winter, and the battlefield situation.

The meeting came days after the U.S. temporarily waived some Russian oil sanctions in a bid to ease pressure on global supplies triggered by the war in the Middle East, which was sparked by the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran starting on Feb. 28.

Zelenskyy and some other European leaders criticized Washington’s move to ease sanctions, saying it would provide a windfall for Moscow to keep up its attacks on Ukraine.

Zelenskyy also met with King Charles III during his visit.

In Brussels, the European Union’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas noted Tuesday that Russia stands to gain from higher energy prices and the rerouting of advanced Western air defense systems from Ukraine to the Middle East.

But, she said, Ukraine “remains Europe’s top security priority and attention for Ukraine will not be allowed to fizzle out.”

Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said the Iran war is bad for Ukraine, “mainly because of the oil price which feeds the Russian war machinery. The Russian economy was actually doing extremely badly a couple of weeks back. Now it’s bouncing back."

“It’s also taking some of the necessary, air defense systems away from where they should be in Ukraine,” Stubb told an audience at the Chatham House think tank in London.

U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants to secure a peace deal that ends Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II and has rattled the continent’s leaders, who reckon that Russia could pose a credible security threat to the European Union by the end of the decade.

But the U.S.-mediated talks between delegations from Moscow and Kyiv, which so far have yielded no significant progress on key issues, are on hold amid the Middle East conflict.

Ukraine is the “ultimate loser” from the war with Iran, said Ed Arnold, Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

That, he said, is because the war is draining stocks of American air defense missiles that are crucial for Kyiv to shoot down Russian missiles and is diverting Washington’s attention from Russia-Ukraine negotiations.

Ukrainian teams have recently visited Gulf countries to discuss mutual interests, according to Zelenskyy.

It is important for Ukraine to secure deals with Gulf states for advanced air defense systems in exchange for Ukrainian anti-drone expertise and technology, said François Heisbourg, special adviser at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris.

Trump has spurned Zelenskyy’s offer of help for the United States and its Persian Gulf partners in fighting Iranian drones. Ukraine has become one of the world’s leading producers of high-tech, battle-tested drone interceptors.

British officials say Russia and Iran are collaborating on drone technology and tactics in the Middle East. Drone combat experts from the U.K. and Ukraine have been sent to the region to help Iran’s neighbors repel its drone attacks.

Starmer’s office said the U.K. and Ukraine will sign a deal combining “Ukraine’s expertise and the U.K.’s industrial base to manufacture and supply drones and innovative capabilities.” Britain is also funding an “AI Center of Excellence” in conjunction with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

Russia's Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its air defenses intercepted and destroyed 206 Ukrainian drones overnight over Russian regions, the annexed Crimean Peninsula and the Azov Sea. A total of 40 intercepted drones were flying toward Moscow, the ministry said.

Asked about an increase in Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow over the past few days, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that authorities in Kyiv were “continuing absolutely futile resistance" against Russia's invasion.

Zelenskyy said late Monday that counterattacks by Ukrainian forces at eastern and southern points along the front line have wrecked Moscow's plans for a March offensive.

His comments couldn't be independently verified, but the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Monday that Ukrainian counterattacks “are likely constraining” some Russian offensive operations.

Ukraine’s air force said that Russia launched 178 long-range drones of various types across the country overnight, starting late Monday, with 154 of them either intercepted or jammed while 22 more struck their targets.

In the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzhia, a Russian strike damaged a terminal of Ukraine’s biggest private delivery company, Nova Poshta, the company said on Telegram. Eight people were wounded, according to Ivan Fedorov, the head of the regional military administration.

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Associated Press writers Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine and Emma Burrows in London contributed to this report.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine