Britain will not flinch in its support for Ukraine, the Defence Secretary told allies as he announced a £100 million contribution towards the rapid delivery of air defence interceptors before winter, at a virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group on Tuesday.
Wes Streeting, co-chairing the meeting alongside German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, put the money into the PURL mechanism, under which allies fund American weaponry for Ukraine. The announcement came against a requirement Kyiv had set out minutes earlier for 300 Patriot missiles from partner stocks, 500 air-to-air interceptors with counter-cruise missile capability and $2 billion for drones.
Attending as, in his own description, the still relatively new Secretary of State, he said the commitment felt across the country was unshakable. “Our Prime Minister Andy Burnham and I, and in fact our entire country, feel to Ukraine, to its people and to its government as they fight on the front line, not just for Ukrainian freedom and democracy, but for all of our freedom and democracy.”
Having hosted President Zelensky in Britain over the summer and visited Kyiv alongside the Prime Minister, he said he had seen the consequences of Russian aggression at first hand along with “the resilience and strength and the courage that the people of Ukraine are showing”.
The message he wanted heard in Moscow was that the winter would change nothing. “We know that this will only end through a negotiated peace. It’s really important that Russia understands that we won’t flinch in terms of our support for Ukraine as they continue to fight for their freedom and, for that matter, for ours.”
On drones, where Britain committed to supplying 120,000 this year, progress is running at more than 25,000 delivered so far with thousands more due before winter. Those cover a range of capabilities, in his account, helping Ukraine “to take the fight directly to Russia, defend itself by taking out Russian drones, and also to see what’s happening both on the battlefield and behind enemy lines”.
Britain delivered its millionth round of large calibre artillery ammunition in July, with tens of thousands more to follow, funded by Germany, Denmark, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
The Ukrainian ask
Evgeniy Khmara, attending his first meeting as Ukraine’s Defence Minister, opened by thanking partners for the munitions, the funding and the technology, but above all for the time it had bought. “We are still standing because we have strong people and we have strong friends,” he told the group. His assessment of the front was that Russia has failed to achieve strategic success and is compensating through terror against civilians. “We have built a drone kill zone. It halts the enemy’s advance and destroys over 30,000 Russian military personnel every month,” he said.
Describing the previous night’s attack, in which cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and jet-powered Shahed drones were launched, he said Ukrainian air defences intercepted 31 of 32 cruise missiles. “The situation with ballistics is much more difficult, and that difficulty is precisely down to the lack of Patriot missiles. Russia is aware of this, which is why it’s trying to exhaust our air defence, our economy, and our society.”
Russia is planning to mobilise something in the order of 300,000 personnel on top of those already recruited, according to Ukrainian assessments, with the same expected for 2027, alongside increased production intended to turn the war into a competition of resources. Kyiv’s answer, Khmara said, is “smart technology and speed”. On money, of the 70 billion euros promised at Ankara, partners are so far providing 62 billion including bilateral assistance and the EU loan, leaving 8 billion outstanding against the declaration while the overall defence deficit stands at 23 billion euros. He asked that the necessary decisions be taken by November so results can be seen on the battlefield this winter, noting that up to 90 per cent of Ukrainian battlefield success now rests on drones.
Ukraine is contracting around 1,000 Patriot missiles with partner help and through the EU loan, but the majority will not ship for some years, which is why he asked allies to supply from existing stockpiles now in exchange for improved missiles from those future contracts. “The support for Ukraine is not a subsidy; it is an investment,” he said.
“We are offering a win-win partnership. Together, we’re creating new capacities for the security of the free world.”
Can someone remind me of a conflict that was resolved by talking without firstly establishing a winning position in the field?