The UK has announced a major £450 million surge in military support to Ukraine, aimed at reinforcing its front-line capabilities and ensuring it remains in the strongest possible position to secure a lasting peace, as Defence Secretary John Healey co-chairs the 27th meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group alongside his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius.
Held in Brussels, the summit gathers 50 partner nations to coordinate urgent support for Ukraine amid continuing Russian aggression.
Today’s announcement comprises £350 million in new UK funding from this year’s record £4.5 billion Ukraine military aid budget, with further support contributed by Norway through the UK-led International Fund for Ukraine.
Defence Secretary John Healey will tell the contact group:
“We cannot jeopardise peace by forgetting the war, which is why today’s major package will surge support to Ukraine’s frontline fight… 2025 is the critical year for Ukraine. Our job as defence ministers is to put into the hands of the Ukrainian war fighters what they need. We must step up to deter Russian aggression by continuing to bolster Ukraine’s defences.”
The package includes:
- £160 million for repair and maintenance of UK-supplied vehicles and equipment, delivered through Taskforce HIRST, which links British and Ukrainian firms to carry out in-country repairs and return vital kit to the battlefield faster.
- A new ‘close fight’ aid package worth more than £250 million, funded by the UK and Norway, focused on radar systems, anti-tank mines, and hundreds of thousands of drones—including explosive-dropping and highly manoeuvrable FPV drones that are estimated to be responsible for 60-70% of current damage to Russian equipment.
Much of the equipment will be sourced from both UK and Ukrainian defence suppliers, reinforcing the industrial ties at the heart of the 100-year UK-Ukraine partnership announced earlier this year.
The Ministry of Defence described the drone element as an expansion of the drone capability coalition, co-led by the UK and Latvia.
The wider aim of the repair initiative is also to create mutual benefit: “supporting the UK economy and skilled jobs”, while helping Ukrainian forces sustain momentum on the ground. British defence firms are expected to gain valuable battlefield insights to inform future procurement and capability development at home.
The latest announcements follow a series of high-level meetings by Western leaders and defence chiefs over the last month, including the first meeting of the Coalition of the Willing chaired yesterday by the UK and France, which is working to plan a long-term reassurance force for Ukraine.
The UK is also playing a leading role in NATO’s new Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU) command, and will manage the NSATU Trust Fund for rapid procurement—already backed by Canada, Denmark, and Iceland.
I am a big supporter of Ukraine but how does the PM and the defence leadership expect the armed forces to cope in Ukraine when the armed forces have had to deal with cuts after cuts after cuts and reducing our capabilities i mean the USMC is bigger than the British army
YA, the USMC does belong to the world’s only superpower, which spends about 20 times what we spend on Defence. So, not a fair comparison. A better comparator country would be France.
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The previously announced 2.5% GDP Defence spending by 2026 will address some of the backlog of two decades neglect.
The Strategic Defence Review has an HM Treasury inspired target for 2.75% GDP Defence spending by 2030 and has been identified by the Defence Select Committee as not being based on the threat and needs.
It’s essential that government borrowing for Defence investment is enabled by the banks, as taxpayers bailed them out in 2008 so they have a debt of honour as well as some financial debt. Since lenders price for risk and their business depends on peace and stability that investment will be lower risk than usual.
I think we’ve given Ukraine enough we’ve given more than any other European nations. and they have made no descer able difference on the battlefield.
And France, Italy and Spain are giving how much……perhaps the UK should ask them…..getting tired of UK carrying the can on this one.
It seems that there’s a strong relationship between proximity to the terrorist state and support for Ukraine though politics are a factor too (Hungary).
So yes, those not paying attention and investing in European security need to be called out…
We can afford it and are army is very well equipt and fully manned back up by large stock piles of ammo. Sorry i had my rose tinned glasses on. We are skint, the Army’s a run down joke and Airforce is missing AWAC’s/Bomber/SEAD aircraft and any ground based air defence. Our nuclear armed subs are older than people who crew them. All good then a few more meeting and warm words and every thing will be fine.
It’s clear that the choice is invest treasure now, or pay much more blood and treasure later.
Future trade with a peaceful Ukraine is a fair reward, not extortion.
Europe sees that This USA is unreliable.
Time to stop buying US arms and send the Americans home from NATO Europe command so eNATO can run it for the interests of all European people.
Slava Ukrainia 🇺🇦
Slava Heroyam 🇺🇦
#vpdfo #FDJT #NAFO69
Absolutely disgusting. My sons just joined british army and and says the accommodation is like aushwitz, the kit doesn’t fit, food is sub standard and rationed out so they are constantly hungry while doing basic training.
The equipment is in state of disrepair.
It’s embarrassing. All the the while throwing endless money at the corrupt, failed state of Ukraine and it’s scrounging war mongering joke of a leader.