LONDON, July 18 (Reuters) - Senior executives from

British defence firms including BAE and Babcock

met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday to

discuss the need to boost military support for the country in

its conflict with Russia.

Zelenskiy was in Britain for a summit of the European

Political Community (EPC) and the meeting in London also

included representatives from Thales, MBDA and KBR

as well as British defence minister John Healey and

business minister Jonathan Reynolds.

"Meeting with industry leaders today, I emphasised the

Government will continue to work in partnership with industry

and the need to boost industrial production of vital military

kit for both Ukraine and our own Armed Forces," Healey said in a

statement.

Babcock will extend its contract with the British defence

ministry by six months to provide maintenance and repair of

military vehicles, Britain's defence ministry said.

Earlier on Thursday, Britain's new prime minister, Keir

Starmer, hailed European unity at the EPC summit, calling for

deeper defence and security cooperation in order to better

support Ukraine.