Burnham to allow Zelensky to mass produce kits that can incapacitate Russian air defences
Nick Gutteridge
26 July 2026
The Telegraph
Andy Burnham is set to unveil a pact with Ukraine to incapacitate Russian air defences as he holds talks with Volodymyr Zelensky. The Prime Minister will insist Britain’s support for Kyiv “remains unwavering” as the Ukrainian president becomes his first international visitor on Monday.
During a meeting at a naval yard, the pair will strike an agreement which will allow Ukraine to start mass producing UK-designed signal jammers.
The jammers, which are a part of a project called Stone Cloak, are fitted to Ukrainian attack drones and hinder Russian air defences from tracking them.
Britain has directly supplied Kyiv with thousands of the pieces of kit, which are around the same size as a tablet computer. But the Prime Minister will announce on Monday that he is signing over the intellectual rights to Ukraine so the country can mass produce them itself.
Before Mr Zelensky’s visit, Mr Burnham said: “Britain stands with Ukraine, shoulder to shoulder, and our support remains unwavering. Russia should be in no doubt of our resolve, and we will not back down until we achieve long lasting and just peace for Ukraine. Stone Cloak is the best of home-grown British innovation and proven on the frontline, and it will be vital to protecting our security in both our countries.”
Officials said allowing Ukraine to mass produce Stone Cloak and use it in real battlefield conditions would also be beneficial to Britain’s own defence.
Army chiefs will be able to collect data on its performance, which they will use when building the system into the next generation of drones and missiles.
The jamming system is expected to be used in several upcoming weapons systems including Project Brakestop, a new low-cost cruise missile.
Ukraine has carried out drone strikes deep into Russia to cripple Vladimir Putin’s war efforts, hitting both military and economic targets.
On Saturday, it hit one of Russia’s biggest oil refineries in the Ural Mountains, causing a fire to break out. In the past couple of weeks, Kyiv has also targeted warehouses belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s version of Amazon. The strikes have affected Russia’s economy, with the country’s central bank cutting its growth forecast to zero and warning of higher inflation.
Mr Zelensky’s visit to Britain will come at the end of one of his most difficult weeks in office, which saw the sacking of Mykhailo Fedorov, his defence minister.
After the ousting of Mr Fedorov, both Britain and the United States privately pressed the Ukrainian president not to abandon an anti-corruption crackdown, led by the popular 35-year-old former military chief.
A source told The Telegraph that US officials were particularly concerned that Mr Fedorov’s dismissal could prompt a backlash from Elon Musk, whose Starlink satellite internet system has been crucial for Kyiv’s military.
Nick Gutterdge has covered one of the most turbulent periods in modern British political history, encompassing the rise and fall of four prime ministers, and was previously a correspondent in Brussels throughout the negotiations for the UK’s exit from the European Union