The Kremlin has withdrawn its ambassador to the UK as it seeks to pressure Britain into reconsidering its support for Ukraine, while UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, visiting Kyiv on his first foreign trip, will hand over blueprints for Ukraine to produce its own long-range missiles. Ambassador Andrey Kelin had been in post for more than seven years and is understood to have left on July 21. Russia has not put forward a replacement for Kelin, while it is understood that embassy staff do not know if or when a successor might be named. Russia’s online list of “senior diplomatic staff” in the UK now only includes Vasily A Tsyganov, chargé d’affaires at the embassy.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. A spokesperson for the Russian embassy in the UK told British newspaper The Sunday Times that the Kremlin had concluded Kelin’s diplomatic mission on July 21. The Kremlin did not appear to have made any official statement at the time. The embassy spokesperson added that the former ambassador had made “considerable efforts to preserve contacts and channels of communication” with the UK but accused the British government of choosing a “path of confrontation” with Russia. A spokesperson for Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “This is a matter for the Russian ministry of foreign affairs. We have an ambassador and embassy in Moscow to engage and raise concerns with the Russian government. We continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine, which has the right to defend itself against Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion.”