The UK and Ukraine have signed a new defence agreement to encourage cooperation on defence and industrial issues.
The signing, which took place in Kyiv, came during UK’s largest ever trade mission to Ukraine, with a delegation of 29 UK businesses travelling to the country to speak about their expertise and find opportunities for cooperation.
According tot he UK Government:
“The arrangement is the latest sign of the UK’s unwavering support for Ukraine’s defence efforts and long-term recovery and will help make Ukraine’s military operations more efficient. It’s designed to enable both countries to work together to tackle security challenges, enhance defence industries, and deliver high-profile joint projects over the coming months.
Increased co-operation could see dozens of projects between some of the UK’s biggest defence companies, Ukraine’s Armed Forces and Ukrainian companies – from establishing strategic military repair facilities to rebuilding civilian infrastructure and implementing technology to defend against cyber-attacks.
During the trade mission to Kyiv, UK defence company BAE Systems agreed a contract with the UK Ministry of Defence to maintain and repair gifted L119 Light Guns in Ukraine. This means L119s which were donated by the UK to Ukraine can be serviced in country and returned to the frontline quicker and provides vital support for Ukraine’s defence infrastructure.”
UK Minister for Trade Policy Greg Hands, who accompanied the business delegation and signed the arrangement, said:
“The UK has led the world in support of Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion. Now is the time to double down on our support so Ukraine not only wins the war but emerges from it as a strong and resilient country. Defence is a critical element of that which is why we’re facilitating further defence trade between our nations with this Agreement. Our trade missions, alongside this signing, are testament to the UK’s integral role in boosting Ukraine’s war-time economy and facilitating their long-term recovery.”
UK Minister for Defence Procurement, James Cartlidge said:
“This is the latest demonstration of the UK’s unwavering commitment to Ukraine, as they continue to fight back against Putin’s illegal invasion. This is now a war of industrial production and so it is key that we unleash the capability, capacity, ingenuity and innovation of our respective industrial bases. The Framework Arrangement will augment this joint activity, further supporting the brave men and women of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
Alexander Kamyshin, Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine, said:
“It was the UK that was the first country to sign the Security Cooperation Agreement with Ukraine, and it was British defence companies that were the first to open their offices here after the start of the great war. Our partnership is developing, and today we are one step closer to British manufacturers being the first to start producing their weapons in Ukraine.”
The UK has now provided almost £12 billion in military, humanitarian and economic support to Ukraine. You can read more on this here.
Always “the” before UK. The UK!
Indeed, “the” is a definitive article.
We always used to put “the” before Ukraine as well!
That’s because it was carried over from the Russian way of saying it. We rightfully moved away from that to respect Ukraines sovereignity.
All to be congratulated and applauded, but in reality the future of Ukraine is 100% in Trumps hands, he will unfortunately decide the outcome of Russia’s aggression.
The EU now has a say also, their collective donations are well ahead of the US if you consider both financial and miltiary aid. Germany took a while to get started but their overall military donations are now twice ours and the overall EU is still significant, even if focused on miliatry aid alone they are well behind the US. Trump won’t start making an impact until next year, the key period is this year, if aid doesn’t arrive soon they won’t make it to Trump in a position where they can fight back. The issue is all the aid… Read more »
I don’t think so, Europe actually out produces the US in terms of artillery and Europe won’t let Ukraine fall.
It will be significantly more bloody and longer without US support though.
…if he gets back into power, of course.
yeah….
If anyone is still in doubt on Trump being in Putins hands (and I know there are some on this site) I have a bridge to sell you…
I think it’s a lot more simple to be honest…. He sees things a very simplistic childlike way, he’s an absolutely textbook delusional narcissist of ‘at best’ average intelligence and has absolutely no moral compass to guide his decision making. He will view Ukraine as something he can ‘fix’ with one summit without breaking a sweat, what’s more worrying is he will absolutely believe it to be the case… Just look at the fanfare re his meeting with lil Kim in Korea, lots of flannel and it changed absolutely nothing, just the meeting of two nutters! Probably just as well… Read more »
Sad so many Americans can’t see him for the Quiseling & crook he is.
Ok. Now get what they need rapidly.
Labour were on the sky news saying defence spending to be 2.5% of gdp. Not read it all yet. It’s a real own goal the tories should have done it ages ago. It was 2.5% when labour left
The key phrase is ” when it can be afforded” so no different from the Tories.
Well apart from The Torys are the current incumbents and therefore we can judge them on actions….and they have been found wanting.
Not really Grizzler, Starmer might well have said he was going bto give every adult in the UK a million pound cheque “when it can be afforded”, it’s simple political spin bullshit and means nothing.
yes but he didnt say that did he..so thats a pointless statement.
I was just identifying that we can only judge on what has happpened- not what may happen- and the Torys have not done a good job on defence.
No more pointless than promising to ‘spend 2.5%’ when we arrive at some mythical yet to be defined magical sunlit upland at the end of the rainbow Grizzler…
My point being that Starmer has actually promised absolutely nothing whatsoever, sod all, zip…..
Defence is way down his order of priorities, way, way, way, way down and he needs to find the cash for his day dream ‘Great British Energy Company’ first, as well as apparently taking over parenting responsibilities for feeding the children of the nation…
Two different arguments.
Again just to clarify I am only identifying that we should not conflate the the possiblity (however strong) that Labour wont walk the walk with the fact that the Torys have definately NOT walked the walk.
Just to be clear I have not expressed an opinion erither way
You’ve more confidence than me Grizzler, personally I see absolutely no difference between the two, two sides of the same rotten Westminster coin…
The tories have failed defence in my view. They took over 2.5% when they came to office, cut cut cut, added previous costs that weren’t included just to keep the budget looking like it was over 2%.
We knew in 2010 the peace game was over. 2014 we it got reinforced its over. 2021 even the blind could see the peaceful times were over.
Now folks say try reform! The party that don’t have a defence plan and just sacked a candidate for inactivity, turns out he’s been dead for ages. They are not the answer
Well I can’t in good conscience vote Tory and certainly not Labour.
Two different shades of Socialism that refuse to admit there’s no money in the pot. They both plan to just borrow and spend and hope for the best without the root and branch reform needed.
Reform is new, finding it’s feet still. They actually seem to have some pride in the UK ( shock horror) and arn’t simpering apologists for our shared history like the others….
A growing raft of common sense policies, god forbid that can’t be right!!
The Options For Change defence review in summer 1990 re-sized (ie dramatically cut) the armed forces to fit the peaceful post-Cold War world – to give the peace dividend.
The very next year we were fighting at divisional strength with RAF support on Op Granby! Then came multiple kinetic operations in the Balkans in the 90s, a second Gulf War and a long deployment in Afghanistan, the most dangerous country on earth.
The peace game was over in 1991!
Indeed. And since it can be afforded now just as well as at any other time, neither party is making any commitments at all.
Yep, we have two parties who are more interested in their grubby party politics than the real danger facing the West.
Neither care a jot, it’s obvious in their utter inaction….
If it can be afforded labour will do it and the tories are stalling if we take what say as true.
In the article they say it’s a war of production and we need to unleash industrial capacity.
Where? Where’s the armoured vehicle production? Where the new arms plants. Where’s the money?
There is capacity now but it’s not being used.
The money must be tucked away somewhere else. They’ve also got to rein in on serious money wastage. The numbers reported on various posts here over time are astronomical. Need to lift with more financial oversight and project management discipline.
Much of the issue has been the BOE and the OBR saying the UK would be in one of the worst recessions in its history that’s suddenly failed to materialise. Jeremy *unt for the Tory’s and Rachel Reeves for Labour( ex Bank of England economist) have both jumped in this band wagon that the UK is broke. An inquiry has been called at the BOE lead by Ben bernakie to ascertain why the banks forecasts are so bad and so far off the mark. It’s down to bad models and old software not to mention the general anti UK sentiment… Read more »
Yes but atleast they are saying it now. That’s an improvement on before.
They’re not saying anything Jim, no matter how much you would like them to. I say again…no different from the Tories.
They cannot say anything else…if they did the media and conservatives would be on them like a rash..about profligate spending
They could try telling the truth, novel though that would be.
Sadly people don’t want the truth..they want their politicians to tell them “it will all be ok” and “it’s the bad peoples fault”….the truth does not win elections.
Problem in the UK is that greater than 50% of the population take more in benefits than they pay in tax, until that is solved there is no money. Not an easy sell, even the most right wing minded person would not advocate making people homeless/starving because they’re not working (or earning enough) to support themselves. The truth on affordability goes back to government priorities, budgeting should be made so much more transparent to the average person, you have 100% of GDP, each department should have what percentage? That would get a more sensible answer answer than the surveys asking… Read more »
👍😕
Wouldn’t really trust what Labour say on Defence , just like government now no interest. 😞
I read somewhere that dragon fire is on its way to Ukraine. Great to get operational testing
A bit of a silly comment but why call it ‘Dragon Fire” when it’s a laser beam? Too late to change but “Fire Eye” or “Fire Light” anyone?
bit of a silly comment
Because the name “Dragon Fire” alludes to it’s destructive capabilities.
🙄
Shapps is misguided. This needs huge power input, such as can be found on a RN frigate. We will not send a frigate with DragonFire to UKR and UKR does not have any frigates of their own, as I understand.
We probably only have one frigate kitted out with a developmental weapon.
I think it’s more likely to be fitted to land instalations/city defences against Russian bombardments of missiles & drones.
So far it has only been engineered to fit on frigates.