Starmer is right to pledge his solidarity with Ukraine

The Prime Minister was comparatively late in meeting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, having been in office for six months before taking the trip to Kyiv. And what was expected to be little more than the standard diplomatic visit culminated in the declaration of a '100-year partnership' between Britain and the Ukraine. 

Days before Donald Trump's inauguration back at the White House, there will inevitably be some cynicism about the timing of the announcement, still more about the timeframe of the commitment. How can any politician make a commitment for 100 years, by which time both Sir Keir and President Zelenskyy will be long gone? Who knows what type of regime will be running Ukraine during the first quarter of the 22nd century?

But while it might be easy to be cynical, Sir Keir is right to make a bold statement of solidarity with Ukraine, and his decision to provide a mobile air-defence system could prove invaluable in stabilising an increasingly volatile.

Next month marks the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and with little sign of Zelenskyy's forces making the breakthrough hoped, people are becoming restless. To the backdrop of growing economic difficulties at home, it is inevitable that populists will question the wisdom of spending money on a war that seems a very long way away. 

Such attitudes are as shortsighted as they are misguided. 

The people of Ukraine are not merely fighting for the survival of their own nation, they are also in the vanguard of preventing a potential world war.

With a Trump presidency seemingly anxious to end its involvement in the conflict, it is more important than ever that Europe does all it can to ensure Putin is not emboldened to seize more territory. 

That alternative doesn't bear thinking about.