Downing Street to display major drone in reminder of Ukrainians bravery

Keir Starmer received the defensive drone, which will be deployed to the front line in Ukraine, as a gift from President Zelensky during his visit to Downing Street in October

A state-of-the-art interceptor drone will be displayed in Downing Street as a reminder of the Ukrainian people’s “bravery and courage”.

Keir Starmer received the defensive drone, which will be deployed to the front line in Ukraineas a gift from President Zelensky during his visit to Downing Street in October.

Photos released by No10 show the pair with the drone as well as of Downing Street’s cat, Larry, posing beside it.

Mr Starmer said: “The display of the Octopus drone in Downing Street will serve as a poignant reminder of Ukrainian people’s bravery and courage as they defend their freedom from Russia’s ongoing barbaric attacks.

“It will also stand as a proud symbol of the unique and unwavering friendship between our two countries, with this defensive drone combining frontline Ukrainian innovation with British industrial heft to create cutting-edge capability here in the UK to defend both our countries.”

The Octopus drone was the first drone of its kind to come to the UK, ahead of the mass production of Octopus in the UK later this year. It follows a landmark agreement in the summer between the PM and President Zelensky to share battlefield technology.

Data from Ukraine’s front line is fed into the Octopus every six weeks, allowing UK production lines and British defence firms to rapidly design and build cutting edge military equipment.

Interceptor drones are considerably cheaper than regular air defence missiles and have proved to be highly effective in countering the waves of one-way attack drones that Russia continues to launch at Ukraine’s cities. They fly quickly to intercept incoming drones and missiles, destroying them before they reach their targets.

It comes as the PM travelled to the G20 summit in South Africa on Thursday evening where he will discuss how countries can put pressure on Putin “to stop his atrocities in Ukraine, agree to a full and unconditional ceasefire and engage seriously in talks”. Mr Starmer is expected to meet a string of Indo Pacific and African leaders where he will set out the urgent need for more support for Ukraine.

Downing Street said: “He’ll call on partners to end the reliance on Russian energy and cut off finance flow to Putin’s war chest and remind members of the strain Putin’s war has put on many of our friends and partners across the world through their weaponisation of grain and energy.”

It comes after Defence Secretary John Healey on Thursday issued a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin as he revealed that a Russian spy ship lurking at the edge of UK waters shone lasers at RAF pilots.

Mr Healey condemned the “deeply dangerous action” by Russia and said the UK had military options ready if the Yantar travels south. It is the second time the vessel has entered British waters in the last year to spy on critical undersea cables.