Britain has announced a further £540m worth of weapons for Ukraine, including £150m for US-made interceptors, marking the first use of a Nato-run funding scheme. The commitment comes ahead of a meeting of the 50-country Ukraine Contact Group, which coordinates international weapons supplies to Kyiv, following the Nato defence ministers summit.
The UK is using Nato’s Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (Purl) for the first time. Devised last year, the mechanism allows European countries to buy US weapons for Ukraine after the US said it would no longer donate them. The remaining £390m will fund 1,000 Lightweight Multirole Missiles (LMMs), manufactured in Belfast, to bolster Ukraine’s air defences against nightly Russian attacks.
UK Defence Secretary John Healey confirmed the package as he arrived in Brussels: “This afternoon, I’ll be confirming that Britain is providing an extra half a billion pounds in urgent air defence to Ukraine.” The announcement follows the UN’s call for Russia to stop attacks on Ukraine’s energy sites, which have plunged cities into darkness during the coldest winter of the war.
