The Mirror’s Lizzy Buchan visited Kyiv, Ukraine, with the Yvette Cooper, who was appointed as the UK’s new Foreign Secretary in Keir Starmer’s reshuffle last week
On a wall in Kyiv, there’s a picture of a young man named Maroschenko, who shares my birthday.
He was born more than a decade after me. But he is already dead. His face joins thousands of other fallen Ukrainians on Kyiv’s memorial wall, many of whom gave their lives to repel Putin’s barbaric invasion.
The city is beautiful in the autumn light, and across the street, people sit in cafes or walk home from work, defiantly trying to live their lives under constant menace from Russia.
I joined the new Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper to visit Kyiv this week on her first overseas trip since becoming the UK’s top diplomat.
Her appointment comes at a perilous moment, with Russia increasing its assault on Ukraine while Vladimir Putin pretends to be engaged with the prospect of peace.
In the Middle East, the situation in Gaza is desperate and Israel’s recent attack on Hamas’s leaders in Qatar threatens the prospect of resuming ceasefire talks.
There was a lot on her mind as we boarded the overnight train, speeding through the dark Ukrainian countryside before arriving in the early morning into Kyiv. Ms Cooper’s decision to go to Ukraine so soon after being appointed underlines the strength of the UK’s support.
She met President Zelensky to convey this message at his presidential office, where I watched their opening remarks. The warmth of the greeting and the sincerity of his words about Britain’s support were clear.
Ms Cooper also visited the Council of Ministers building with Ukraine’s PM Yulia Svyrydenko, where they stood under the open sky to survey the damage caused by a Russian strike that blew part of the roof off. And she took time to meet families forced out of their homes near the frontline in eastern Ukraine.
These meetings clearly made a huge impression on her when I spoke to her later on the train home. “Russian attempts to demoralise and grind down Ukrainians will fail,” she said.
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