- New UK military support of £7.5million for attack and surveillance drones
- Comes as allies invest further money in drone coalition, co-led by the UK and Latvia
- Number of Ukrainian recruits trained on British soil under Operation Interflex passes 50,000
The UK is expanding its military support for Ukraine with a major funding package to provide new drone capabilities, as the defence against Putin’s illegal full-scale invasion enters its 1,000th day.
It follows confirmation from Defence Secretary John Healey MP on Monday that the number of Ukrainian armed forces recruits trained by the UK on British soil has passed 50,000. The Operation Interflex training has been delivered since the summer of 2022 and is now supported by 12 other countries.
The Prime Minister and Defence Secretary have been clear that the defence of the UK starts in Ukraine and are committed to stepping up and speeding up deliveries of military support.
It comes as spending by the UK Government on military support for Ukraine is now at its highest ever level since the start of the full-scale invasion – spending £3billion this year and every year for as long as it takes, as well £2.3bn from profits on frozen Russian assets.
Today, the Government is announcing further military support of £7.5 million of funding for new attack and surveillance drones, which will be invested through the drone coalition led by the UK and Latvia and drawn from the £3bn annual funding pool. This is on top of the £120m of funding announced by the Prime Minister last month for Ukraine’s Navy and maritime capabilities which will fund uncrewed surface vessels, and maritime ISR drones.
In a show of unity between the UK and its allies, the drone coalition will receive an additional £16m from countries including Germany (£10m), Canada (£3m), and Luxembourg (£3m) who have pledged to purchase drones through the coalition. This brings the total fund to £67m, including a total of £15m from the UK.
This additional support provides another significant boost for the capabilities of Ukraine’s Armed Forces in the face of Putin’s illegal war of aggression. Over the weekend, more than 120 missiles and 90 drones were launched by Russia at Ukraine’s infrastructure, killing civilians in eastern Ukraine.
The Chief of Defence Intelligence, Adrian Bird, will also be delivering a recorded intelligence update on social media, providing a comprehensive overview of the conflict. This includes:
- More than 700,000 Russian casualties (dead and wounded). The daily average of Russian casualties in the first 17 days of November 2024 has now risen to 1,531.
- Russian equipment destroyed includes 3,558 tanks, 147 helicopters, 132 fixed wing aircraft, 1,750 artillery and more than 8,500 armoured vehicles. A total of 26 Russian vessels have also been destroyed or damaged in the Black Sea
- Iranian military aid to Russia has included the supply of hundreds of one-way attack drones, artillery munitions, and extensive support to Russian domestic drone production. Iran has also delivered Fath-360 close range ballistic missiles to Russia.
The Minister for the Armed Forces will visit Operation Interflex training in the East of England today (Tuesday). He will meet some of the 50,000 troops trained by the UK and its allies – Canada, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Lithuania, Australia, Romania, Netherlands, Kosovo and Estonia.
Defence Secretary, John Healey MP, said:
The UK has stood side by side with our Ukrainian allies since day one of Putin’s illegal full scale invasion – leading international support, training 50,000 recruits and supplying weapons, drones and other crucial military kit.
1,000 days after Putin initiated his full-scale invasion, our commitment to Ukraine remains ironclad. President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people will have our fullest support for as long as it takes.
As we look towards a winter of continued Russian attacks on military and civilian targets, it is critical that international partners and allies come together to back Ukraine and ensure that Putin does not succeed.
On Wednesday, Parliament will debate the Second Reading of the Financial Assistance to Ukraine Bill, which will confirm the UK’s £2.26bn loan to Ukraine for further military equipment as part of the G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) Loans to Ukraine scheme.
Ukraine continues to demonstrate the effectiveness of drones on the battlefield, using inexpensive drones to destroy hundreds of comparatively more expensive Russian tanks and vehicles. By using surveillance drones, the Ukrainians have also been highly successful at using their artillery to destroy Russian artillery positions.
The UK has also been running two competitions with industry to design, develop, and procure advanced new drones, including highly agile first-person view (FPV) drones that can manoeuvre past Russian defences.
The first of these competitions is now complete, with contracts set to deliver thousands of FPV drones in the coming months. The second competition is still open for expressions of interest from industry, and in addition to FPV drones will provide a new capability – interceptor drones which can destroy incoming attack drones and ordnance.
Minister for the Armed Forces, Luke Pollard MP, said:
The training of more than 50,000 Ukrainian recruits on UK soil since the start of Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is an achievement which cannot be overstated.
Supported by instructors from 12 other nations, Operation Interflex has harnessed the world-leading skills and experience of the British Army to provide Ukraine with a reliable source of trained soldiers.
Interflex is the perfect example of how we are working side-by-side with allies to bolster the security of Ukraine, which in turn boosts the security of Europe and the UK.
Additional funding for naval equipment will provide a boost to Ukraine’s maritime security and support its activities in the Black Sea, where its forces have had significant success in countering Russia’s Black Sea Fleet – allowing it to reopen a commercial grain export corridor vital for Ukraine’s economy.
Ukraine has damaged or destroyed more than 25 per cent of Russian Federation Navy vessels operating in the Black Sea, and the additional funding would support them in purchasing hundreds more aerial and sea-based maritime drones, as well as surveillance drones to protect the grain corridor.
The Defence Secretary visited Ukraine on his second day in the role, where he announced a new package of artillery guns, hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, and nearly 100 Brimstone missiles alongside President Zelensky, and to speed up deliveries promised by the previous government.
Since then, the UK has also signed a major defence industrial agreement with Ukraine, allowing to draw from £3.5bn of export finance to procure more military equipment from UK companies, and announced a package of additional air defence missiles.
Operation Interflex has been funded and extended to run through until at least the end of 2025, having provided an invaluable flow of trained soldiers to bolster the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
As one of the largest multinational training efforts of its kind, Operation Interflex came following the initial programme of training provided by the UK, under Operation Orbital, which trained more than 22,000 personnel between Putin’s illegal invasion of Crimea in 2014 and the start of his full-scale invasion in 2022.