Keir Starmer flew to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, on 16 July 2026 for his final visit as prime minister. He met President Volodymyr Zelensky and said Britain's "cast-iron support for Ukraine will always endure" (BBC News; gov.uk).

It was also Starmer's last day as leader of the Labour Party. Andy Burnham was due to be declared the new Labour leader the next day. On the Monday after that, Burnham was scheduled to meet the King. Under the British system, this meeting is the formal moment when the monarch asks a new prime minister to form a government (BBC News).

On the same day as Starmer's visit, Russia launched strikes on Ukraine (CNN). The outgoing prime minister was in Kyiv while the city was being attacked. That gave his farewell message a particular weight.

Starmer used the visit to look back on his two years in Downing Street as the time when the UK-Ukraine relationship was built to last. During his time as prime minister, the two countries signed a 100-year partnership agreement to deepen their defence and trade ties. He also led efforts to set up a future peacekeeping force for Ukraine (BBC News).

In a statement, Starmer said the courage of the Ukrainian people since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 had "preserved the security of Europe." He added: "When I became prime minister, I knew the UK must not simply stand with Ukraine in the moment, but help build the foundations of its long-term security and success" (BBC News).

The outgoing prime minister pointed to increased defence spending and said the UK was "leading the way in the war fighting technologies of the future." He told Zelensky that the UK and its allies are "absolutely united against Russian aggression," pointing to recent G7 and NATO summits as evidence. The G7 is a group of seven major advanced economies, and NATO is the Western military alliance that includes the UK (BBC News).

The UK government published an official press release titled "Prime Minister visits Ukraine in final week of office," in which Starmer said: "I am so proud of what Britain has contributed" (gov.uk).

The visit was the latest in a series of meetings between Starmer and Zelensky during the prime minister's time in office. Two days before the Kyiv trip, on 14 July 2026, the two leaders met in London, according to the Ukrainian Presidential Office. On 11 July, they held a meeting on defence support. On 7 June, Starmer joined the leaders of France and Germany to meet Zelensky, and they issued a joint statement repeating their unwavering support for Ukraine. Earlier, in October 2024, Zelensky had presented the details of Ukraine's Victory Plan to Starmer (Ukrainian Presidential Office; Ukrainian Presidential Office; Ukrainian Presidential Office; Ukrainian Presidential Office).

The broader question is whether everything Starmer built around the Ukraine relationship survives the change of prime minister. The 100-year partnership, the peacekeeping-force plan, and the regular meetings between the two countries were all designed to last beyond a single prime minister's time in office. Think of it like a contract between nations: it does not expire just because the person who signed it leaves. Whether Burnham treats that framework as something he must carry on, or something he can adjust, will be an early sign of his approach to foreign policy.

Starmer's choice to spend his last day as Labour leader in Kyiv, rather than at Westminster, was itself a statement of what mattered most to him. It placed Ukraine at the centre of his political legacy. The Russian strikes happening at the same time, as reported by CNN, reinforced the stakes in the most direct way.

Defence policy on Ukraine is decided at Westminster, meaning it applies to the whole of the UK, including Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The handover from Starmer to Burnham therefore matters to the entire country. Any changes would be felt most in the defence industry, which is concentrated in England and Scotland.

Starmer's time as prime minister also saw the Ukraine Recovery Conference in July 2025 confirm Ukraine's Green Transition Office, a body set up to help with rebuilding and moving Ukraine's energy supply away from fossil fuels (gov.uk). That sits alongside the 100-year partnership as part of the long-term structure Starmer was referring to in his farewell remarks.

Burnham was Mayor of Greater Manchester before winning the Labour leadership. He has no previous experience in national security. He takes over at No 10 at a moment when Ukraine is still an active and urgent issue. His meeting with the King on the Monday after his leadership declaration will make the transition official. What he says about Ukraine in his first days as prime minister will be watched closely for any sign that he plans to depart from the position Starmer has now made public.