The war in Ukraine was top of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s agenda on Wednesday as he started a two-day trip to Washington carrying the message that post-Brexit Britain remains an essential American ally in a world of emboldened authoritarian states.
The US and UK are the two biggest military donors to Ukraine, and the war will be the focus of Sunak’s meeting on Thursday at the White House with President Joe Biden.
The breaching of a major dam in southern Ukraine, which sent floodwaters gushing through towns and over farmland, has given the subject added urgency. Neither Washington nor London has officially accused Russia of blowing up the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, but Sunak told reporters during his flight to Washington that it would “demonstrate the new lows that we would have seen from Russian aggression.”
Britain and the US are lead players in an international effort to give Ukraine F-16 fighter jets, and talks are also likely to include extra air defense measures against Russian bombardment as Ukraine launches a counteroffensive to retake occupied territory. The trip is Sunak’s first to the US capital since he took office in October, but his fourth meeting with Biden in as many months. The two leaders have crossed paths at a Group of Seven summit in Japan, in Northern Ireland and at a three-way defence meeting with Australia in San Diego. Sunak, 43, and 80-year-old Biden are very different politicians. Sunak is an heir of free marketeer Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and wary of big government interventions in the economy such as Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, a huge package of tax breaks and subsidies aimed at boosting green industries. But he’s also pragmatic, and has restored stability to Britain’s government after the turbulent terms of predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. Johnson championed the populist Brexit movement and led Britain out of the European Union, a decision Biden has made clear he thinks has hurt the UK.
Truss was in office for less than two months, resigning after her rash tax-cutting plans sparked a financial crisis.