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Andy Burnham in Ukraine to hand over UK blueprints to make long-range missiles · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Andy Burnham has arrived in Ukraine's capital on his first
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: overseas trip as British Prime Minister. These are pictures of
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Mr Burnham in Kiev this morning. Ukraine is marking 35
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: years of independence from the Soviet Union. The Prime Minister
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: is set to announce an agreement for Ukraine to start
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: producing its own models of the British Storm Shadow cruise missile.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Ukraine hit more Russian targets during the weekend. The Russian
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: retail group Ozon says several of its warehouses have been targeted.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Russia also has continued its attacks on Ukraine, port infrastructure
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: and vessels in the Odessa region were the targets. Our
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: correspondent Dan Johnson's in Kiev following all the latest developments.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Andy Burnham's taken the train to Kiev like so many
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: British prime ministers before him and other international leaders. It's
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: a big day of ceremony and celebration here. 35 years
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: of Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union. So there'll be
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: events to attend. He'll be meeting President Zelenskyy. The Prime
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Minister will also chair his first meeting of the Coalition
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: of the Willing, that partnership of 35 nations that is
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: supporting Ukraine. They'll be discussing what more Ukraine needs to
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: carry on this fight. Andy Burnham will also announce that
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  Speaker 2: the French and British have together agreed to hand over
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  Speaker 2: the plans and technology so that Ukraine can produce its
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: own range of storm shadow or scalp cruise missiles. That's
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: something that Britain had been supplying but now Ukraine is
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: going to be able to make its own. That's significant
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: and it's the first step perhaps towards Ukraine adopting the
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: technology and plans that it needs to produce other ranges
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  Speaker 2: of missiles itself so that it can guarantee its own
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  Speaker 2: supply and deliver the weapons it needs when it needs them.
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  Speaker 2: Andy Burnham will also pick up an award that's been
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  Speaker 2: given by Ukraine to the British people in recognition of
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  Speaker 2: the long-standing solid support that the Brits have been giving
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  Speaker 2: to Ukraine since the start of this war. And he
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: said he wanted to be here to tell the Ukrainian
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  Speaker 2: people that that support from Britain would not waver despite
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Russia's threats against Britain.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Let's speak now to Vadim Pristaiko, who is a former
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  Speaker 1: Ukrainian ambassador to the UK. Ambassador, welcome to BBC News.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Who's got the upper hand, would you say, in the
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  Speaker 1: conflict now, four and a.
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  Speaker 2: Half years in?
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  Speaker 3: I believe that there is no particular advantage of either
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  Speaker 3: sides and the front lines are frozen. So everybody's trying
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: to find the new ways. And as you can see,
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: the war has moved in the direction of us and
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: Russians are hitting strategic points way beyond the front lines.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: Whether this strategy is fruitful, we will see. But we
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  Speaker 3: have the advantage that the half of Europe and the
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: world with us and Russia doesn't have the friends. They
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: have clients. They're selling oil at a huge discount, but
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  Speaker 3: they are not helped as Ukrainians.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: On Independence Day, I suppose it's inevitable that the Ukrainian
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: people will reflect on the circumstances they're living in. How
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: resilient are they feeling generally?
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  Speaker 3: You know, we have the legend here, political, that Ukrainian
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  Speaker 3: independence came to us very easily with no blood being
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: spilled in the wars for this independence. Obviously, now we're
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: paying a very huge price. So people I believe it's
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: not quite optimistic. There is no despair. There is understanding
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  Speaker 3: that the war is for long with us. That's why
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  Speaker 3: we are trying to get technologies of the missiles, like
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: from the UK or the Patriot missiles from the United States.
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  Speaker 3: We understand that it's war for our existence. We have
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: to fight it, and hopefully we will stop it somewhere here.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: So Ukrainians are quite adamant in what they expect for
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  Speaker 3: the years to come, but bracing for the cold, harsh
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: Ukrainian winters.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: We've seen Ukraine be incredibly innovative in how it has
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: gone about developing technology to combat drones. What needs to
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: happen so they have the same success in combating the
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Russian ballistic missiles that are hurled at it?
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  Speaker 3: You're right. Ukrainian ingenuity has probably been born out of
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  Speaker 3: despair and lack of resources. Now, when we withstand the
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: initial pressure of Russians over these four years and prove
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  Speaker 3: that our technology is like our unmanned technologies, the sea
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  Speaker 3: naval drones like Magura, which pushed the Russians out of
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  Speaker 3: the whole Black Sea. Who would believe it? Now we
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  Speaker 3: came to the point when this is already done, the
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  Speaker 3: fundament is solid. We need something with the long reach.
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  Speaker 3: We are not intercepting the missiles anymore. We are trying
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: to get the archers.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: We saw former Defence Minister Mikhail Fedorov calling for elections
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  Speaker 1: to be held. And when he was sacked, there were
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: protests in his support. Where is that going, that call
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: for elections to be held? How much traction has it gained?
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  Speaker 3: It's not only with Mikhail Fedorov, although he was considered
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  Speaker 3: as the young, energetic, the leader of this time as
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: Minister of Defence. He used to be Minister of Digital Transformation.
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  Speaker 3: very negative guy, like Elon Musk of Ukraine, if you will.
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  Speaker 3: But this idea that Ukraine is different from Russia, we
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  Speaker 3: cannot have somebody taking the throne of Ukrainian government for
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: a longer time than needed, as well as parliament. So
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  Speaker 3: that's the root of this movement and discussion. Although most
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: of the Ukrainians quite solid on this compromise among ourselves,
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  Speaker 3: that we have to exercise some discipline and understand that
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  Speaker 3: war with us and we cannot have elections without which
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  Speaker 3: will sweep away whatever Ukraine is doing and our own unity.
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  Speaker 3: If you understand this as the strive for the whole
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  Speaker 3: nation to work, we have to be united and then
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  Speaker 3: deal with the political consequences later on.
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  Speaker 1: Vadim Prostyko, former Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, thank you
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: very much for joining us.