UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a phone call on 7 July to coordinate positions before an upcoming “Coalition of the Willing” summit in Rome, a forum led by the United Kingdom and France that is working on security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a cease-fire. According to official read-outs, Starmer pledged further UK funding this month to accelerate Ukraine’s domestic production of combat and reconnaissance drones, which Kyiv regards as critical for repelling Russian assaults and sustaining its own operations along the front. The leaders also discussed speeding up implementation of the UK-Ukraine bilateral security agreement signed earlier this year. Both sides said they will seek “the strongest possible decisions” at the Rome meeting and will work through the Ramstein defence-co-ordination format and other channels to broaden allied support. Starmer expressed condolences over recent Russian missile strikes, while Zelenskyy underscored the need for rapid delivery of new defence capabilities.