UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has signed a 100-year partnership agreement with Ukraine to provide support across various sectors, including healthcare and military technology, while pledging to provide security guarantees if an end to Russia’s war comes.

During Starmer’s first visit to Kyiv since becoming prime minister, the British leader told a news conference on Thursday that the United Kingdom would examine “the practical ways to get a just and lasting peace … that guarantees your security, your independence and your right to choose your own future”.

“We will work with you and all of our allies on steps that would be robust enough to guarantee Ukraine’s security,” Starmer said. “Those conversations will continue for many months ahead.”

While Starmer was speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the presidential palace, loud blasts and air raid sirens were heard over Kyiv as air defence systems took aim at a Russian drone attack.

The British leader said the Russian attack served as a reminder of the situation on the ground.

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“It makes it real for us,” he said, adding, “It’s an everyday threat Ukraine is facing with incredible resolve and determination.”

Zelenskyy acknowledged the “hello” from Russia, and added that Ukraine would send its own “hello back”.

Since Russia’s war on Ukraine in February 2022, the UK has provided Kyiv with 12.8 billion pounds ($15.6bn) in financial aid, including 7.8 billion pounds ($9.5bn) in military aid.

According to the German think tank, the Kiel Institute, as of December 2024, the UK was the third-highest aid donor to Ukraine, after Germany, which was the second-highest, and the United States, which is currently Ukraine’s biggest supporter.

Here’s all we know about Starmer’s pledge:

What’s in the 100-year deal?

According to Starmer’s office, the “historic partnership” between Ukraine and the UK will be “formalised through the landmark new 100 Year Partnership”.

The partnership deal is expected to “bolster” military collaboration through a “framework” to strengthen Baltic Sea, Black Sea and Azov Sea security and “deter ongoing Russian aggression”. However, Starmer declined to be drawn by questions from the media about whether the UK would send troops to Ukraine.

Starmer also pledged 3 billion pounds ($3.6bn) a year in military aid “for as long as it takes” and announced 40 million pounds ($48.7m) for an economic recovery programme to provide additional support on grain verification and trade, but it is unclear when the economic aid will be paid to Ukraine.

“This is not just about the here and now, it is also about an investment in our two countries for the next century, bringing together technology development, scientific advances and cultural exchanges, and harnessing the phenomenal innovation shown by Ukraine in recent years for generations to come,” Starmer said on Thursday.

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The 100-year partnership will be presented to the UK Parliament, which must approve the agreement, in the coming weeks .

Benjamin Martill, a senior lecturer in politics and international relations at Edinburgh University, Scotland, told Al Jazeera that the deal Starmer signed is “very significant” considering the timeframe involved.

“The United Kingdom has many bilateral deals with lots of different countries, but very few things that are this longstanding. This is clearly designed to send a really strong signal. I suppose it’s designed to send a strong signal because we’re in quite a weak position,” Martill said, adding that the imminent arrival of US President-elect Donald Trump to the White House and question marks over whether he will continue the US’s support for Ukraine is a concern felt across Europe.

He added that the chances of the agreement passing through Parliament are “very high” as support for Ukraine was favoured by the previous Conservative government, as well.

It is a “continuation of a Conservative party policy. It’s doing what a lot of Conservatives wanted”, he said.

Why is the election of Donald Trump as US president significant?

With just days until Trump takes office in Washington, DC, concerns are growing about whether support for Ukraine will continue as Trump has promised to end the war in “days”.

On Wednesday, Trump’s pick for secretary of state, Marco Rubio, also said the new administration would seek “bold diplomacy” to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

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“There will have to be concessions made by the Russian Federation but also by the Ukrainians,” he told the Senate foreign relations committee.

Martill said Trump was the “elephant in the room” when it comes to the UK’s partnership deal because of his previous claims.

“He’s utterly unpredictable … all of this is happening now because of Trump, and so I think that, while it’s difficult to understand what he’ll do, [it’s] going to be a real game changer,” he said.

What has Zelenskyy said about the agreement?

In an evening address on Thursday, the Ukrainian president praised the agreement, saying that “relations between Ukraine and the UK are now closer than ever.”

“The one hundred-year partnership agreement with the UK can definitely be replicated with other countries, further developing our partnerships,” he wrote on Telegram.

He said being included in the pact would assist various spheres of society, including education and technology.

He added there was a “classified, secret part” of the agreement, without elaborating.

Could British troops be deployed to Ukraine?

In advance of Thursday’s news conference to announce the deal, Zelenskyy told reporters he would discuss with Starmer the possibility of bringing Western troops to Ukraine to oversee any ceasefire agreement.

When Starmer was asked if he would commit to the idea of a peacekeeping force, the prime minister replied only that it was “really important that Ukraine is put in the strongest possible position”.

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However, Starmer later told Sky News that it was an idea he had been discussing with a “number of allies, including, of course, [French] President Macron”, who first introduced the idea of a Western force in Ukraine last year.

“We have always been one of the leading countries in relation to the defence of Ukraine. And so you can read into that. But we will be playing our full part. But I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves because this has to be enduring,” he said.

Will this agreement spur Ukraine’s other allies to take similar action?

“I think this will have a galvanising effect and I think this is probably what the UK is also trying to do,” Martill said.

He said the UK was the first to “take the charge”, to pledge Western-made battle tanks to Kyiv, with unnamed British sources telling the BBC that the UK sent Ukraine 14 Challenger 2 tanks in 2023.

“So part of this is also signalling, not just to European partners, signalling to Kyiv, ‘we’re here for you’. Signalling to European partners – ‘we could do with more of this’, and to follow the UK’s line, and signalling to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin that ‘we’re in this for the long game’,” he added.