David Cameron Visits Odesa, First UK Minister to Do So During Wartime

The UK’s new Foreign Secretary visited Odesa on Thursday to “see first-hand how Ukraine is pushing back Russian forces in the Black Sea.”

David Cameron is the first British minister to travel to the city since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.

During the visit, he said: “As Foreign Secretary, supporting Ukraine against Putin’s aggression is vital, which is why I am pleased to make this my first visit as Secretary of State.

“Russia thinks it can wait this war out, and that the West will eventually turn its attention elsewhere. This could not be further from the truth.

“In the last three months, they have pushed Russia back in the Black Sea and are opening vital sea trade routes for the Ukrainian economy and global food supplies.”

The Black Sea is a crucial trading route for Ukraine, one of the world's largest agricultural producers and exports.

Since Moscow pulled out of a UN-brokered deal guaranteeing safe passage for Ukraine's agricultural exports in July, both Kyiv and Moscow have ramped up military activity in the Black Sea.

Ukraine subsequently launched a new “humanitarian corridor” – a sea route for civilian ships that avoids international waters.

Cameron arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday where he met with President Zelensky and vowed to keep up military support for Ukraine even with the West's attention focused on the Middle East.

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"We will continue to give you the moral support, diplomatic support, the economic support, but above all, the military support, that you need not just this year, and next year, but for however long it takes," Cameron said during the meeting with Zelensky.

His visit, nearly two years into Russia's invasion of the Ukraine, came with global attention shifting to fighting between Israel and Hamas.

Zelensky thanked Cameron for making the trip while the world's attention was focused on more than one month of brutal fighting between Israel's army and Hamas.

"Now you know the world is not focused on the situation on our battlefield in Ukraine and dividing the focus really does not help," he told Cameron in a video distributed by the presidency on Thursday.