Britain has allocated £200m to fund preparations for a potential deployment of troops to Ukraine, after pledging soldiers to a multinational force in the event of a ceasefire. Defence minister John Healey announced the funding during a visit to Kyiv on Friday, saying the money would be spent on upgrading vehicles, communication systems, and counter-drone protection, as well as ensuring troops are ready to deploy.
The announcement follows a summit of the “coalition of the willing” on Tuesday, where Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed a declaration of intent outlining a possible future deployment. Healey said the funding showed the government was “surging investment” into preparations for Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia launched a large-scale overnight attack on Ukraine, firing 242 drones and 36 missiles, including a nuclear-capable Oreshnik hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to NATO allies. Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine would push for an urgent UN Security Council meeting and a meeting of the Ukraine-Nato Council, describing the strike as “a grave threat to the security on the European continent”.
Zelenskyy warned neighbouring EU states that the missile posed a challenge for Warsaw, Bucharest, and Budapest, urging them to take it seriously. The UN Security Council will meet on Monday to discuss the attack, which caused heating outages in Kyiv during winter.
The leaders of Britain, France, and Germany condemned the attack as “escalatory and unacceptable”. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the Oreshnik launch was “meant as a warning to Europe and to the US”, adding: “Putin doesn’t want peace, Russia’s reply to diplomacy is more missiles and destruction.” German chancellor Friedrich Merz said threatening gestures “will not work”.
Ukrainian officials said four people were killed and at least 25 wounded in Kyiv, including an emergency medical aid worker. The Qatari embassy was also damaged in the attack; Qatar expressed “deep regret” but said no staff were harmed. Russia denied targeting the mission, claiming it was hit by Ukrainian air defence.
