Just days after returning to government as Lord Cameron, the former prime minister and new Foreign Secretary has made his first foreign visit. Unsurprisingly, the destination of this trip was Kyiv, to meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

The news of Cameron’s visit broke early this morning, although whether it took place this morning or earlier in the week remains unclear thanks to the wartime high security protocols that exist around such visits. In footage posted by Zelensky to X/Twitter, the Ukrainian premier is shown welcoming Cameron and his delegation to Kyiv. Shaking hands, Cameron calls it an ‘enormous honour’ to meet Zelensky.

Cameron’s visit to Ukraine will have provided a welcome boost to Zelensky at a difficult time for Ukraine in the war

Sitting down to talk, Zelensky thanked Cameron for coming. Referencing the conflict in Palestine, he remarked that it was ‘very important now the world is not focussed on the situation on our battlefield in Ukraine. The dividing focus really doesn’t help.’

The Foreign Secretary, for his part, paid tribute to the ‘strength and determination of the Ukrainian people’. Cameron pledged that the UK’s moral, diplomatic, economic and military support for Ukraine would continue ‘for however long it takes’. Unable to help himself, Cameron had a playful dig at his predecessor Boris Johnson, saying that although the pair ‘had some disagreements’, ‘his support for you was the finest thing’ – much to Zelensky’s amusement.

The purpose of his visit, Cameron stated, was to ‘make sure the attention is here, in Ukraine’. The pair discussed weapons for the front line, as well as how to strengthen the country’s air defences and protect Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. The last is particularly important as winter approaches and Russia will make guaranteed attempts to damage and destroy the country’s power plants – vital for keeping the lights and heat in Ukrainian homes on, and morale up.

Cameron’s intention to make good on his word to Ukraine appears serious. In his statement on joining Rishi Sunak’s cabinet on Monday, the war in Ukraine received top billing, ahead of the conflict in the Middle East.

His visit to Ukraine will have provided a welcome boost to Zelensky at a difficult time for Ukraine in the conflict against Russia. With the Ukrainian counter-offensive having stagnated, and a difficult winter ahead, as Svitlana Morenets writes in this week’s magazine, Zelensky faces tough decisions about how to proceed in the new year.

This week the EU admitted that they will miss their pledge to deliver 1 million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine by March; just 300,000 have been handed over so far. As such the Ukrainian president faces the fatiguing prospect of once more having to do the rounds of his western allies with begging bowl in hand.

Additionally, Ukraine is now competing against the Israel-Hamas war for attention, sympathy and funds. The clock ticking down to an American presidential election next Autumn with a far from certain outcome is only adding to the pressure for Ukraine to make headway following the winter thaw.

Zelensky will be relying on Cameron, and of course Sunak, as important allies in the coming months. If the new Foreign Secretary fails to deliver, it will be Ukraine that loses out.