The Russian embassy in the UK accused Britain of “deliberately opting for an escalation of the Ukraine crisis”, saying that “the deeper its involvement in the conflict… the greater the price it will pay”. In response, Burnham said last week: “We are not friends in good times, we will be there in Ukraine’s time of need and that will not change.” “The visit comes as Russia confirmed that its ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, had left his post in London in recent weeks. The Kremlin has not yet put forward a replacement, but Russia’s embassy in the UK told the BBC it did not reflect an intention to downgrade diplomatic relations between the two nations. Deadly exchanges between Russia and Ukraine continued overnight, with two children killed and seven injured when debris from a Ukrainian drone hit a private plane. A warehouse belonging to the retailer online Ozon was also set on fire, two days after Ukraine said it would attack the company for selling dual-use items that could be used by the military. It was the third night in a row that Ozon warehouses were attacked, and the company confirmed on Saturday that a logistics center in the Samara region had been attacked and a warehouse in Orenburg on Sunday. Three people were also killed in a Russian attack on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
