The UK will provide Ukraine with a large package of military aid worth 2.5 billion pounds (funding is provided until 2025), the UK Secretary of State for Defence, Grant Shapps, announced on 12 January 2024.
Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, the United Kingdom has been one of Ukraine’s most staunch allies, training the Ukrainian military on British soil and providing Ukraine with lethal aid.
“With £2.5 billion to get Ukraine the advanced capabilities and drones they need to defeat Putin and train more Ukrainian soldiers to defend freedom’s frontline against tyranny,” Grant Shapps wrote on Twitter (X).
During his visit to Kyiv, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed that the UK will increase military aid to Ukraine in 2024.
“The United Kingdom is announcing the largest single aid package since the beginning of the war – a £2.5 billion package. It will include additional air defense equipment, anti-tank weapons, long-range missiles, and thousands of shells. We will also conduct training for thousands more Ukrainian soldiers,” the British Prime Minister said.
Within the framework of the £2.5 billion package, the UK will allocate £200 million to provide Ukraine with “thousands of advanced new drones for long-range strike, surveillance, and maritime use,” the British Defense Ministry announced.
According to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the UK will continue to provide assistance to Ukraine in the coming years.
“The UK guarantees 2.5 billion for this year, and this assistance will continue in the coming years. The term is ten years,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said following his meeting with Rishi Sunak in Kyiv on 12 January.
On 12 January 2024, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Rishi Sunak, signed a Ukraine-UK security agreement in Kyiv, the Presidential Office of Ukraine reported.
The Agreement on Security Cooperation between Ukraine and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, signed by President Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Sunak, stipulates a ten-year term with the possibility of extension.
The UK’s security commitments under this agreement will remain in effect until Ukraine joins NATO, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after the signing. If Ukraine joins NATO before the end of the term, the security commitments will expire, and Ukraine will be incorporated into the NATO security system, according to the UK-Ukraine security agreement.
The Prime Minister of the UK, Rishi Sunak, came to Kyiv on the morning of 12 January. Rishi Sunak met with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and visited the session of the Verkhovna Rada (the parliament of Ukraine).
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