U.K. High Minister Boris Johnson made a surprise search recommendation from to Kyiv on Saturday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Russian forces retreated from the gap earlier within the week.

Johnson pledged to ship extra defensive weapons and monetary aid to the conflict-ravaged nation in what he referred to as “a testament of our dedication to [Zelenksyy’s] nation’s fight against Russia’s barbaric advertising and marketing campaign.”

The British executive equipped a brand unique £100 million ($130 million) aid equipment on Friday that entails higher than 800 NLAW antitank missiles, an unspecified series of Javelin antitank weapons and Starstreak air protection programs, alongside with physique armor and various affords. The U.K. previously pledged £350 million in military aid to Ukraine since Russia started its conflict around six weeks within the past.

Western military officials on the starting place feared the Ukrainian capital would tumble within days of Russia’s invasion. But while Russian forces tried to encircle Kyiv, they did no longer location up to dangle shut the metropolis, now a logo of Ukrainian resistance.

Johnson’s search recommendation from came one day after European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen made a day out to the Ukrainian capital metropolis to provide make stronger and talk with Zelenskyy about bloc membership. She acknowledged a resolution on whether or now to no longer welcome Ukraine to the European Union would possibly per chance be made in “a topic of weeks,” as a replacement of the frequent yearslong timeline.

“Russia will tumble into financial, monetary and technological decay, while Ukraine is marching in opposition to the European future. Right here’s what I stumble on,” von der Leyen acknowledged at a press convention, in step with Reuters.

The EU president also toured the Bucha space northwest of Kyiv, where authorities direct Russian soldiers dedicated atrocities against civilians ― allegedly dismembering folk ahead of killing them and looting folk’s houses on their methodology out.

Zelenskyy acknowledged Thursday that the problem in nearby Borodyanka became once even worse.

As Russians appear to regroup in eastern Ukraine, the nation’s leaders are urging NATO countries to resupply its weapons stores sooner than the next section of the conflict. Activists visited the White Dwelling on Friday to query extra military make stronger, arguing that the Russian assault on a disclose region that killed higher than 50 folk hours ahead of became once proof extra abet became once wanted.