UK announces extra £1.3bn military aid

BRITAIN will provide an extra £1.3 billion in military support to Ukraine in an escalation of assistance.

It means the UK spending on the conflict is at the highest rate since the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Boris Johnson, Joe Biden, the US president, and leaders from other G7 nations will hold talks with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky today to discuss the new round of financial support.

The £1.3 billion, drawn from the UK’s reserves, includes £300million of military kit, including anti-battery radar systems to target Russian artillery, GPS jamming equipment and night vision devices, promised by Mr Johnson earlier this week.

The Prime Minister will also host a meeting of arms companies this month to discuss increasing production.

Officials said the announcement would help support the British arms industry, which could benefit from the global shift away from reliance on equipment from Vladimir Putin’s sanction-hit Russia. It emerged last week that Mr Johnson had asked Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, to withdraw a letter calling for increased spending on the Armed Forces in the first week of war in Ukraine.

In March, Mr Wallace had written to Rishi Sunak warning Britain risked missing a Nato commitment to spending 2 per cent of national income on security by 2025.

But the Prime Minister is said to have told Mr Wallace that now is the wrong time to raise defence spending.

Mr Johnson said: “Putin’s brutal attack is not only causing untold devastation in Ukraine, it is also threatening peace and security across Europe.

“The UK was the first country to recognise the scale of the threat and send arms to help the Ukrainians defend themselves.

“We will stand by that endeavour, working with our allies to ensure Ukraine can continue to push back the Russian invasion and survive as a free and democratic country.”

The funding comes on top of earlier commitments worth about £1.5billion.