The Russian embassy in the UK has accused Britain of “deliberately opting for an escalation of the Ukraine crisis”, saying “the deeper its involvement in the conflict… the higher the price it will pay”.
In response, Burnham said last week: “We are not fair-weather friends, we will be there in Ukraine’s hour of need and that won’t change.”
Asked on Tuesday about the Russian threat, Burnham maintained the UK was “providing support so that Ukraine can defend itself and that’s been the British position all the way through this conflict, by previous prime ministers – it remains the case with me”.
The visit comes as Russia confirmed its ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, had left his post in London in recent weeks.
The Kremlin is yet to put forward a replacement but Russia’s embassy to 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 Ukrainian drone debris hit a private children’s centre in Russia, local authorities say.
A warehouse belonging to online retailer Ozon was also set on fire, two days after Ukraine said it would target the company for selling dual use items that could be used by the military.
It was at the third night in the row that Ozon’s warehouses had been targeted, with the company confirming on Saturday that a logistics centre in the Samara region had been hit and a warehouse in Orenburg on Sunday.
Three people were also killed in a Russian attack on the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.