UK to send 600 Brimstone missiles to Ukraine
TAPA: Britain will send 600 Brimstone missiles to war-torn Ukraine to help its fight against Russian forces, British Defence Minister Ben Wallace said on Thursday.
“Today I can say we’re also going to send another 600 Brimstone missiles into theatre, which will be incredibly important in helping Ukraine dominate the batlefield,” he told reporters at Estonia’s Tapa military base.
Meanwhile, Sweden pledged to send its Archer artillery system, a modern mobile howitzer requested by Kyiv for months, to Ukraine along with armoured vehicles and anti-tank missiles.
Speaking at a press conference, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said his government had agreed on a three-part military support package for Ukraine, including “the first decision on starting deliveries of the artillery system Archer to Ukraine.”
Sweden, which has broken with its doctrine of not delivering weapons to a country at war, will also send 50 CV-90 armoured vehicles and NLAW portable anti-tank missiles, the government said.
“Military support is decisive,” Kristersson said, as “it can change who retakes the initiative this winter” on the front in Ukraine.
The domestically developed Archer artillery system is composed of a fully-automated howitzer mounted on an all-terrain vehicle, which allows the gun to be remotely operated by the crew siting in the armoured cab.
Thursday’s decision meant the Swedish Armed Forces would be given the task to “make the preparations to begin delivery of the artillery system Archer to Ukraine.”
Defence Minister Pal Jonson said the government had also asked the armed forces to come back with a recommendation on how many of the Archers currently in storage could be sent.
Earlier, Germany faced mounting pressure to supply batle tanks to Kyiv and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky aired frustration about not obtaining enough weaponry as Western allies conferred on Thursday on how best to support Ukraine nearly 11 months into Russia’s invasion.
Just hours into his tenure, Germany’s new defence minister, Boris Pistorius, welcomed US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin to Berlin. He declared that German weapons systems delivered so far have proven their worth and that “we will continue in the future, together with our partners, to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom, territorial independence and sovereignty.”