Britain promises $3 billion more in military aid to Ukraine
Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will announce during a visit to Kiev on Friday that his country will send more than $3 billion in military aid to Ukraine in the coming financial year, his country’s largest annual commitment since the start of the large-scale invasion of Russia.
The new package, revealed in a statementis part of an effort to provide reassurance amid concerns about a possible shortage of Western aid to Ukraine, while much-needed military and financial aid packages in the United States and European Union remain blocked due to political infighting.
The British aid includes at least 200 million pounds, about $255 million, for the production and purchase of thousands of military drones crucial to Ukraine, as well as the supply of long-range missiles, air defenses and artillery ammunition.
“For two years, Ukraine fought with great courage to repel a ruthless Russian invasion,” Sunak said in the statement. “They are still fighting, unwavering in their determination to defend their country.”
“We will stand with Ukraine in its darkest hours and in the better times to come,” he added.
Britain’s new support will cement London’s reputation as one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters since the Russian invasion almost two years ago. It will also help allay Ukrainians’ fears that Western support is faltering in the face of a protracted war that is now largely deadlocked on the country.
Mr Sunak’s visit comes just after President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine returned from a two-day tour of the Baltic states, where he urged allies to help hold the line. Russian forces are on the offensive along much of the front and Moscow has launched a winter air campaign that is weakening Ukraine’s air defenses.
Mr Zelenskiy said he was “grateful” for the Patriot missile systems that Ukraine’s allies have already delivered and which have helped his country weather massive Russian air attacks. But he said Ukraine urgently needs to further strengthen its defenses if it wants to withstand more airstrikes.
“If Ukraine were to receive seven such systems today, the people of Kharkov, Kherson and Odessa would not die,” Zelensky said at a press conference in Riga, the capital of Latvia, on Thursday. Without patriots, he added, “it is impossible to survive.”
The British government also said in its statement that Mr. Sunak and Mr. Zelensky would sign “a historic agreement between Britain and Ukraine on security cooperation” on Friday, the first completed bilateral agreement on security guarantees that any member of the Group of Seven has committed to . to undertake.