ALBAWABA – The United Kingdom (UK) and other northern European countries announced a package of $123 million in military support for Ukraine on Wednesday, as reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The package, provided via the UK-administrated International Fund for Ukraine (IFU), is aimed at helping Ukrainian forces clear minefields, maintain vehicles and protect key infrastructure.
It will provide equipment to help its soldiers cross minefields and bridge rivers and trenches, Britain's Ministry of Defence said (MoD), as carried by AFP, and also includes heavy-duty plant vehicles.
These vehicles will help destroy Russian non-explosive obstacles and enable Ukraine to build defensive positions to protect critical national infrastructure, the MoD added.
Kyiv's Western backers are racing to step up military support for Ukraine ahead of winter, after Ukraine’s summer offensive failed to muster the hoped-for gains on the battlefield.
This new package also coincides with the finalization of a previously announced IFU package that will see more than £70 million of air defence capabilities dispatched to Ukraine, according to the MoD.
These capabilities include the MSI-DS Terrahawk Paladin platform, which can track and destroy drones and protect infrastructure.
Britain's recently appointed Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said the new air defence systems would help protect civilians from Russia's "barbaric bombing campaign" against Ukraine.
Western allies of Ukraine are sending new packages of military support for Ukraine - (Photo by Yuriy Dyachyshyn / AFP)
The new equipment pledged would "give Ukrainian soldiers what they need to breach Russia's deadly minefields", he added.
Shapps will jointly announce the support package on Wednesday alongside counterparts from IFU partner nations at a wider Ukraine-focused meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
The IFU – which uses contributions from international partners to military support for Ukraine – was launched by Britain and Denmark in 2022 and has raised £785 million to date. These contributions came from the founders of the fund and five other members – Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, Iceland and Lithuania – and are administered by London.
Britain's Admiral Tony Radakin, Chief of the Defence Staff, said the new package was "the latest in an unprecedented and sustained effort by 50 nations" to support Ukraine's war effort.
He argued Russian President Vladimir Putin had underestimated "the strength and resilience of his opposition".
"If we stick together, and stay the course, then Russia will continue to lose, Ukraine will prevail and the rules that matter to global security will endure," Radakin said.
