The prime minister is about to announce an additional $376 million in aid during an address to Ukrainian lawmakers.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce a new multi-million pound military aid package for Ukraine as the country continues to battle Russian forces, Downing Street said late Sunday.
Johnson is poised to become the first world leader to address the Ukrainian parliament since Russia launched its military attack in February. The prime minister will stress that the UK is proud to be among Ukraine's friends, in a speech he will deliver via live videolink on Tuesday. According to a press release from the prime minister's office, Johnson will provide details on the aid package, which is worth 300 million almost $376 million, to support Ukraine's ongoing defence against Russia's illegal invasion. The package includes electronic warfare equipment, a counter-batterier radar system, GPS jamming equipment and thousands of night vision devices, the prime minister s office said.
The UK will be able to provide logistical support to isolated forces by sending more than a dozen specialized Toyota Land Cruisers to protect civilian officials in Eastern Ukraine and evacuate civilians from frontline areas, as well as heavy lifting UAV systems, according to a request from the Ukrainian government.
Johnson is expected to refer to the current conflict as an epic chapter in Ukraine's history, which will be remembered and recounted for generations to come. According to excerpts from the speech released by Downing Street, your children and grandchildren will say that Ukrainians taught the world that the brute force of an aggressor is nothing against the moral force of a people determined to be free.
Last week UK Defence Minister Ben Wallace told MPs that the UK's military aid to Ukraine was likely to rise to 500 million, having already surpassed the 200 million mark.
He also revealed that the race is on to equip Ukraine with the same long-range capability that Russia has so they are not outranged and pinned down. The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Western countries had finally begun to provide Kiev with the weapons it requested.
Britain is one of the biggest European suppliers of weapons to Ukraine. The Defence Ministry figures show that London has already sent more than 5,000 anti-tank missiles, 1,360 anti-structure munitions, five air-defense systems with more than 100 missiles, and 4.5 tons of plastic explosives.
The Foreign Office said that the UK has committed more than 400 million of aid for economic and humanitarian assistance, which includes a 220 million package for aid agencies on the ground.
Moscow has warned the West not to pump up Ukraine with weapons, arguing that it will only prolong the conflict. Moscow considers any foreign weapons on Ukrainian territory a legitimate target.
Russia attacked the neighboring state in late February, after Ukraine failed to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French-brokered Minsk Protocol was designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists that the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied that it was planning to retake the two republics by force.