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MERCY MISSIONS
NHS medics deployed on secret missions to Ukraine to help save victims of Putin’s missiles suffering horror 80% burns
Watch The Sun's Political Editor Harry Cole at a hospital in Ukraine
NHS doctors and nurses are being secretly deployed to Ukraine to help save victims of Putin's missiles with up to 80 per cent burns, The Sun can reveal.
today visited a Kyiv hospital that treats both military and civilian casualties with the help of British expertise to thank the staff and meet the wounded.
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UK surgeons and other burns experts have been covertly flown into the Ukrainian capital on secondments to share best practice and tackle infections.
While the majority of patients were military casualties, a number in intensive care were civilian victims of missile and drone attacks on their homes.
Donations of operating theatres and equipment have brought the hospital - that we are not naming as it is a target of Russian attacks - "up to a higher level of care".
Simon Jones of the British Red Cross told The Sun the "generosity of the British public" was crucial to making the project happen.
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It's funded through the charity and the Foreign Office, with rolling missions from NHS carers on rotation for six to eight week stints.
Mr Jones told The Sun: "Essentially we are bringing in anaesthetists, surgeons, rehabilitation specialists, burns nurses, for secondments.
"They are supporting local doctors and nurses, and we are looking to upgrade skills, and knowledge transfer around best practices in burns care.
"They tend to come for around six weeks, and then go back and make a report of recommendations and then we try to support the implementation of those with local stuff.
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"And they will then come back for a secondary visit three to six months later."
Sir Keir met two patients on a rehabilitation ward that receives support from the British Red Cross.
Keir Starmer says there are 'unbreakable bonds' between the UK and Ukraine — as they sign a 100-year deal
The PM said the injuries he saw at the hospital were “a grim reminder of the heavy price that Ukraine is paying”.
A civilian patient from Kyiv, who has burns across both hands and arms, warned Sir Keir: "If Ukraine falls, so does Europe."
Sir Keir today arrived in Kyiv via train for his first visit to the war-torn nation since he took office six months ago.
The PM visited a bombed out building just yards from Zelensky's presidential palace and other key government buildings.
Two prominent Ukrainian physicists were killed in the drone strike on the heart of the capital earlier this month.
The attack was considered a message from Putin and a direct threat that his weapons can hit the very centre of Kyiv - the equivalent to an attack on Whitehall in London - and even the president himself.
The PM declared there are “unbreakable bonds” between the UK and Ukraine — as they sign a 100-year deal today.
It comes ahead of potential peace talks between Kyiv and Russia.
US President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to get the two sides around the table “very quickly” once he is back in the Oval Office.
His incoming team have warned it is not “realistic to say we’re going to expel every Russian from every inch of Ukrainian soil”.
But President Volodymyr Zelensky is seeking security guarantees such as Nato membership before agreeing to enter negotiations.
The Kremlin says it is open to a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Trump.
The PM will today likely face questions over whether British troops will be involved in policing any peace deal.
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But his main focus will be revealing the 100 Year Partnership to rebuild Ukraine with the aid of British firms and private sector loans.
The UK is “preferred partner” for the Kyiv government to rebuild its crippled energy system as well as mining critical minerals and producing greener steel.
The deal will also see coordination in policing the Baltic Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea from Russia, as well as developing drone and space tech together.
The UK has so far provided £12.8billion in support to Ukraine, including £7.8billion of military assistance.
Zelensky has previously told how he wants to join Nato and have allies send peacekeepers to the country if fighting stops to patrol the current frontline, which could become a buffer zone.
Sir Keir said: “Putin’s ambition to wrench Ukraine away from its closest partners has been a monumental strategic failure.
“Instead, we are closer than ever, and this partnership will take that friendship to the next level.”
Asked about British support for blighted Ukraine, Sir Keir said: "We must never let up on that, we have been leading on that."
Ahead of potential peace talks with Russia, the PM warned: "When we say Ukraine must be in the strongest possible position, that cannot just be words."
But he stopped short of repeating the pledge that Ukraine could join Nato as a future bulwark against further Russian aggression.
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Yesterday incoming US Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted the war “had to end” but crucially added: “It is important for everyone to be realistic.
"There will have to be concessions made by the Russian Federation, but also by the Ukrainians.”
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