UK to provide Ukraine with thousands of kamikaze drones – Healey
This was announced by UK Secretary of State for Defense John Healey while opening the next meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in the Ramstein format in London, a Ukrinform correspondent reports.
“And finally, over the next 12 months, the UK will fund the thousands of long-range one-way attack drones that we will manufacture in Britain and deliver to Ukraine,” Healey said.
He recalled that during the previous meeting in July, a 50-day campaign was launched to accelerate support for Ukraine. During this time, the UK supplied nearly 5 million rounds of ammunition, 60,000 artillery shells, missiles and rocket munitions, 2,500 unmanned platforms, and 200 electronic warfare and defense systems.
The Secretary of State for Defense emphasized that the promises made within the Ramstein group must be fulfilled and confirmed that Britain had already directed more than £1 billion of confiscated Russian assets to purchase critically important equipment for Ukraine. For the first time, the total volume of the international fund for Ukraine exceeded £2 billion.
“A safe Europe requires a strong Ukraine… So, I say to President Putin: We see your aggression. We see your new attacks. But you only strengthen our unity with the Ukrainians. And you only drive our determination to go further and faster to support them,” the Secretary of State for Defense stressed.
Healey noted that the priorities of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group remain clear: supporting Ukraine in its current struggle, preparing for peace, and ensuring its preservation in the future.
“Peace is possible. Through the Coalition of the Willing. We will be ready. But, as President Trump has said, peace is achieved through strength. And our job as members of the UDCG is not to jeopardize that peace by forgetting about the war,” he said.
The Secretary of State for Defense also stressed the need to accelerate and enhance assistance to Ukraine: “So, we must do further. We must speed up. We must speed up and surge our support to Ukraine. We must get more kit that has Ukrainian fighters even faster. And across members of the UDCG. Our defiance, our determination. Must match that of the Ukrainians”.
He added that the United Kingdom continues to insist on peace, trying together with allies to force Putin to sit at the negotiating table. The Ramstein meeting in London is being held with the participation of UK Secretary of State for Defense Healey, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, Ukrainian Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Other participants joined via videoconference.
As reported, Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal stated on the eve of the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group that the key task of the Ukrainian delegation is to ensure uninterrupted military and financial assistance to Ukraine, strengthen air defense, and develop joint defense industry production.
Photo: Office of the President
