• The UK’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, signed a 100-year partnership agreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during an unannounced visit to Kyiv today.

• The agreement would formalise economic and military support already pledged to the country with further military assistance to Ukraine on offer amid concerns Donald Trump could reduce aid to Kyiv when he returns to the White House on Monday.

• The partnership – which will take shape through a treaty and a political declaration – will be laid in the British parliament in the coming weeks, and will involve co-operation in areas such as healthcare, agricultural technology and the space industry.

• Starmer said that, in 2025, the UK will give more support to Ukraine “than ever before” and said that Britain will be delivering a new mobile air defence system to Ukraine.

• Starmer said any “lasting peace” must guarantee Ukrainian security, independence and Ukraine’s right to “choose its own future” ahead of possible peace talks later this year or beyond. He said Ukraine has to be in the “strongest possible position”.

• Loud blasts and air raid sirens rang out over Kyiv after Starmer’s arrival as air defence systems in central Kyiv repelled a Russian drone attack. The air raid was “a reminder of the daily attacks and the resolve of the Ukrainian people in the face of it,” Starmer said (you can read more on the attack and Starmer’s diplomatic visit in this story).

• Ukraine confirmed that its forces had struck an oil depot in western Russia where officials earlier said Kyiv’s drones had caused a fire in the Voronezh region. “A large-scale fire broke out at the facility,” the Ukrainian general staff said in a statement that claimed three drones had struck the storage facilities they said were used by the Russian army.

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A new partnership between schools in Ukraine and the UK to share books and stories is being backed by leading children’s writers including Michael Morpurgo, the author of War Horse and Private Peaceful, writes our education editor.

As part of Keir Starmer’s visit to Kyiv, the Department for Education announced the new partnership to foster cross-cultural links between school communities in both countries as well as sharing practices between education systems.

Morpurgo, a former children’s laureate who was knighted for services to literature in 2018, said:

I know of no greater gift we can pass on to our children, for with literature and stories comes knowledge and understanding of ourselves, of the past and present, of the lives of others, of the world about us. Books ask questions that open new horizons, new pathways. They bring us laughter and tears, companionship and hope.”

Fifty schools in the UK will be matched with 50 schools in Ukraine on a year-long reading project targeted at children aged 7 to 14, and delivered by the British Council in partnership with the UK’s National Literacy Trust. The schools will be chosen from across the four nations of the UK before the scheme launches in late spring this year.

Starmer said:

The resilience of the Ukrainian people is incredible. I’ve seen first-hand how learning and reading helps maintain a sense of normality for Ukraine’s children and young people, who have faced unimaginable adversity as they live, learn and play under bombardment.

As reported earlier, sirens were heard over Kyiv before the press conference.

The air raid while he was visiting was “a reminder of the daily attacks and the resolve of the Ukrainian people in the face of it”, said Starmer.

In response to the apparent message the Russian attack had sent, Zelenskyy said: “We will say hello to them, too.”

The so-called 100-year partnership between the UK and Ukraine – just signed by Starmer – includes commitments to strengthening defence and scientific collaboration, promoting closer community links and bolstering military collaboration on maritime security, among many other things.

The document, published by Ukraine’s Presidential Office, includes 10 main points:

• Strengthening defence capabilities

• Supporting Ukraine’s Nato aspirations

• Maritime security partnership

• Trade cooperation

• Energy cooperation

• Justice and accountability cooperation

• Jointly countering foreign information manipulation and interference

• Science and technology cooperation

• Harnessing socio-cultural ties

• Migration cooperation

Downing Street said in a press release:

• The treaty will bolster military collaboration on maritime security through a new framework to strengthen Baltic Sea, Black Sea, and Azov Sea security and deter ongoing Russian aggression

• Will bring together experts to advance scientific and technology partnerships, in areas such as healthcare and disease, agri-tech, space and drones, and build lifelong friendships through classroom projects

• New UK-built Grain Verification Scheme will also be launched to track stolen grain from occupied Ukrainian territories

Moving on to how the war may end, Starmer says any “lasting peace” must guarantee Ukrainian security, independence and Ukraine’s right to “choose its own future”.

“We will work with you and with all of our allies on steps that will be robust enough to guarantee Ukraine’s security, guarantee any possible peace and deter any future aggression. That conversation will continue in the months ahead,” the UK prime minister said in the press conference.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously said that he thinks European security guarantees will be insufficient, as “real guarantees” are from Nato, which is dependent (along with European countries) on decisions taken by US.

US president-elect Donald Trump, who will be sworn back into office on Monday, has frequently repeated his promise to bring the conflict in Ukraine to a swift conclusion, without specifying how. Trump has repeatedly expressed scepticism about US military and financial support for Kyiv.

In 2025, the UK will give more support to Ukraine than ever before, Keir Starmer says, adding that Britain will be delivering a new mobile air defence system to Ukraine, which will be designed by Britain and funded by Denmark. The defence system would be “developed to meet Ukraine’s needs, the British prime minister said. He also said the UK will continue to train Ukrainian troops (over 50,000 have already been trained on British soil since the start of the war three years ago).

Keir Starmer has been holding a press conference with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He has signed a 100-year partnership agreement to deepen security ties and strengthen the relationship between the Ukraine and the UK. “Together we signed a landmark agreement, the very first of its kind, a new partnership between the UK and Ukraine that reflects the huge affection that exists between our two nations,” Starmer told reporters in Kyiv.

The British prime minister, who has been visiting Kyiv today, said the UK will be with Ukraine long after this “terrible war” is over and when the country is “free and thriving once again”.

He said Russian president Vladimir Putin shows no “stomach” for wanting peace, pointing to recent Russian attacks, including the ones launched on Thursday. He praises the “resolve” of Ukrainian people in the face of “relentless” Russian aggression.

Ukraine’s military said it hit a Russian oil depot in the Voronezh region of Russia overnight, with a fire being sparked after at least three drones hit a target. Voronezh is located approximately 465 kilometers (289 miles) south of Moscow. Ukraine’s general staff said on Telegram that the depot stored fuel used by the Russian military. “A large-scale fire broke out at the facility,” the Ukrainian general staff said in a statement. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Jennifer Rankin

Poland has hailed a breakthrough in a painful historical dispute with Ukraine, after it said its neighbour had agreed to allow exhumations of Polish citizens massacred by Ukrainian nationalists in the second world war.

Warsaw is one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters in the EU, offering military and diplomatic support, but for years ties have been strained over a historical atrocity – the massacre of as many as 100,000 Poles by Ukrainian nationalists between 1943 and 1945.

After a meeting with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in Warsaw on Wednesday, Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said the two countries were finding “a common language and methods of joint action on the Volhynia massacre and “sensitive dramatic issues in our history”.

“They require empathy from Ukraine towards Poland and from Poland towards Ukraine,” Tusk told reporters.

The Polish government has said Ukraine has agreed to the exhumation of remains of the first victims to take place, to enable Polish families to bury their relatives with dignity.

The mutual understanding and action “deserves to be seen as a breakthrough” Tusk said.

You can read the full story here:

Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said yesterday that Russia planned to conduct “acts of terrorism in the air”, by plotting a wave of fire bomb attacks that could have brought down planes mid-flight around the world (you can read more about this here).

Tusk seemed to be referring to parcels which exploded at logistics depots in Europe which Western security officials suggested were part of a test run for a Russian plot to trigger explosions on cargo flights to the US.

“The latest information can confirm the validity of fears that Russia was planning acts of terrorism in the air not only against Poland,” Tusk told a news conference in Warsaw after meeting Volodymyr Zelenskyy, though he did not offer more detail or explanation. The Kremlin has dismissed Tusk’s allegation.

“These are absolutely unsubstantiated allegations against Russia,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about Tusk’s statement today. “Poland is well known for making such accusations.”