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The UK government has pledged an additional £450 million in military support to Kyiv as the UK and Germany co-hosted a meeting of 50 nations in Brussels aimed at bolstering Ukraine's defense. The package includes funding for hundreds of thousands of drones, anti-tank mines, and the repair of military vehicles. UK Defence Secretary John Healey said the meeting sought to "pile pressure" on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his invasion of Ukraine.
"We must step up to deter Russian aggression by continuing to bolster Ukraine's defences," he added.
About £350m will be provided by the UK, with extra funding from Norway via the UK-led International Fund for Ukraine. The package includes £160m to provide repairs and maintenance to vehicles and equipment the UK has already provided to Ukraine.
A "close fight" military aid package, with funding for radar systems, anti-tank mines and hundreds of thousands of drones, worth more than £250m is also part of the package, the government said.
In January, the UK pledged £4.5bn in military aid to Ukraine - which Healey described as the highest contribution of aid to Ukraine this year. The £450m announced on Friday is part of that £4.5bn.
Speaking after a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG), Healey said Ukraine's allies in total pledged €21bn (£18.2bn) in new military aid to the embattled nation - which he called a record boost in funding.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, who co-chaired the meeting alongside Healey, said "major progress" was made. He said Germany committed to providing an additional €11bn worth of aid to Ukraine until 2029.
Last month, Sir Keir Starmer announced a £1.6bn missile deal for Ukraine, on top of a £2.2bn loan to provide more military aid backed by profits from frozen Russian assets.
The Lib Dems said the support package announced on Friday was "small change" and called for the government to seize Russian assets in Britain to give Ukraine more funding.
The UDCG had traditionally been hosted by the US defence secretary until Donald Trump became president in January. Since then, in a sign of the US stepping back from European security matters, Healey has taken over as chair.
Healey said US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth did, however, attend Friday's meeting virtually, as did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
