The UK has announced a major new package of support for Ukraine, worth £450 million, which includes hundreds of thousands specialised drones.
The package includes £350 million from the UK from this year’s record £4.5 billion military support funding for Ukraine. Further funding is being provided by Norway, via the UK-led International Fund for Ukraine.
The support package was announced by Defence Secretary John Healey following the Contact Group’s meeting on urgent military assistance for Ukraine, which he co-chaired with German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius.
On Thursday, the 27th Ukraine Defence Contact Group brought together 50 nations in Brussels to coordinate urgent military support for securing a lasting peace in Ukraine.
It will include £160 million of UK funding to provide repairs and maintenance to vehicles and equipment the UK has already provided to Ukraine – partnering UK companies with Ukrainian industry, supporting the UK economy and skilled jobs.
This support also provide a new ‘close fight’ military aid package – with funding for radar systems, anti-tank mines and hundreds of thousands of drones - worth more than £250 million, using funding from the UK and Norway. The package builds on the work of the drone capability coalition, led by the UK and Latvia.
This will include high manoeuvrable first-person view (FPV) drones to attack targets, and drones which can drop explosives on Russian positions. These two types of drones are reported to be responsible for 60-70% of damage currently caused to Russian equipment.
The new kit will be procured from a mixture of UK and Ukrainian suppliers, demonstrating how investment into Ukraine’s defence supports jobs and the economies of both the UK and Ukraine.
The £160 million package for equipment repairs and maintenance will ensure vital armoured vehicles and other equipment can get back to the battlefield as quickly as possible. It will be implemented through the UK’s Taskforce HIRST, linking UK and Ukrainian companies to ensure repairs can be conducted in country.
The support provides opportunities for British companies to learn lessons from the battlefield and support the UK’s own industrial capabilities, an example of the UK-Ukraine 100-year partnership announced by the Prime Minister in action.
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