British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced a new military aid package for Ukraine, funded by the proceeds of frozen Russian assets. About this informs The Guardian.
The package includes 350 modern air defense missiles, which were manufactured in the UK and adapted for ground launch in just three months. This is the first time that the United Kingdom has used assets linked to Russia to finance arms for Ukraine.
The missiles will be launched using the Raven systems supplied by Great Britain. Five such systems are already on their way to Ukraine, which brings the total number of transferred complexes to 13.
Speaking at NATO’s annual summit in The Hague, Starmer said:
“Russia, not Ukraine, must pay the price for Putin’s barbaric and illegal war. We have the right to use confiscated Russian assets to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses. Ukraine’s security is vital to us.”
Defense Secretary John Gealy said that the ability to adapt weapons to modern conditions proves the effectiveness of Britain’s military and industrial base: that missiles save lives is “proof that the military and industrial base of Great Britain can adapt to the needs of modern warfare”.
This package is part of the largest annual aid to Ukraine from Great Britain in the amount of 4.5 billion pounds. It follows on from a £1.6bn deal struck in March to supply more than 5,000 air defense missiles and a separate £350m investment to increase the supply of drones tenfold.
