UK Promises Ukraine More Weapons, ‘Long Term’ Support, Sunak Tells Zelensky

The United Kingdom is looking to provide further equipment to “secure Ukraine’s victory on the battlefield” and Kyiv can count on Britain’s “long term” support, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Volodymyr Zelensky in a call on Tuesday.

Sunak spoke with Zelensky on Tuesday evening, with a readout of the discussion provided by Downing Street revealing the pair discussed the uptick in Russian drone attacks before the UK leader pledged more support, already measured in the billions, for Ukraine this year.

According to Downing Street, Sunak said “Ukraine could count on the UK to continue to support it for the long term”, citing the delivery of 1,000 air defence missiles to Ukraine recently.

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The missiles come on top of months of other deliveries of military equipment, with the Anglo-Swedish NLAW missiles that London provided in large numbers early in the war particularly generating headlines for its high-profile successes against Russian armour.

More recently, the UK has sent electrical generation equipment in the wake of the Russian bombing of Ukrainian energy infrastructure, as well as 15,000 sets of cold weather uniforms for troops.

The UK has also sent armoured vehicles.

In early 2022 the UK started training Ukrainian soldiers in the UK itself, in many cases in using modern military equipment the country was donating to the Ukrainian government.

According to the Ministry of Defence, the UK has given £2.3 billion of military aid to Ukraine so far, more than any other country apart from the United States. The outcome of Sunak and Zelensky’s call strongly suggests much more will follow.

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Downing Street further observed the UK would: “provide further equipment in the coming weeks and months to secure Ukraine’s victory on the battlefield.” 

Responding to the meeting, Zelensky said of Sunak: “we discussed further defense cooperation. We agreed to intensify our efforts to bring victory closer this year already. We already have concrete decisions for this.”