UK to Send Ukraine 150,000 Drones in New Arms Package
Britain will send Ukraine 150,000 drones, air defense missiles, radars and other equipment under a £752 million support package.
Britain plans to send Ukraine a major shipment of weapons and military equipment by the end of the year, including 150,000 unmanned aerial vehicles and 350 missiles for air defense systems, the UK Ministry of Defence said on June 18.
The package will also include air defense missiles, among them multipurpose LMM Martlet missiles, as well as radars and ground-based radar systems.
The total value of the assistance is estimated at £752 million, or nearly $1 billion. London said the package forms part of a £2.26 billion loan program for Kiev announced in 2024. The funding comes from proceeds generated by frozen Russian assets.
The new measures were announced by British Defense Minister Dan Jarvis during a NATO ministerial meeting and a session of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in the Ramstein format.
Moscow has repeatedly said that arms deliveries to Ukraine make a settlement more difficult and effectively draw NATO countries into the conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stressed that shipments carrying weapons for Kiev will be treated by Russia as legitimate targets. The Kremlin has also said that expanding Western military assistance to Ukraine does not help negotiations and will lead to negative consequences.