The equipment, worth £92M, will be procured in the coming months through the International Fund for Ukraine (IFU) and will help bolster Ukraine’s ability to protect its critical national infrastructure, civilian population, and front-line personnel. The package will provide radars to help protect from indiscriminate Russian strikes as well as guns and a significant amount of ammunition.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: “The Joint Expeditionary Force brings together like-minded nations committed to preserving security and stability in Northern Europe, and providing ongoing support for Ukraine.
“The UK has contributed a further £250M to the International Fund for Ukraine and, with allies and partners, through the fund we are providing a package of air defence to help Ukraine protect their critical national infrastructure and defend against indiscriminate Russian air strikes.”
The latest UK contribution of £250m comes after the Prime Minister met President Zelenskyy in Moldova earlier this month to discuss how best to protect Ukrainian cities and critical national infrastructure from Russian strikes. It takes the total pledged so far by all contributing nations to £770M.
The funding for air defence is the first of five expected support packages as part of the second round of IFU procurement.
The first round of procurement resulted in hundreds of proposals from suppliers, ten of which were selected. These included a consignment of reconnaissance and strike drones, which will arrive in Ukraine this summer.
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