Britain is to provide Ukraine with new military aid. This time it will be financed by the income London has earned from interest earned on frozen Russian assets.
This was announced by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, The Guardian writes.
Britain to provide Ukraine with weapons for the first time using Russian assets
Ukraine to receive 350 advanced air defence missiles. The ASRAAM missiles were originally air-to-air, but can now be launched from trucks. RAF and MBDA UK engineers have specially adapted them for launching from the ground in just three months.
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The missiles will be used together with the British Raven systems. Five more of these systems are already on their way to Ukraine, making a total of 13.
The £70 million (more than $95 million) for the aid package came from revenues the UK received from frozen Russian assets, the first time that Russia-linked funds have been used directly to fund arms for Ukraine.
“Russia, not Ukraine, must pay the price for Putin's barbaric and illegal war. It is entirely right that we use the Russian assets we have acquired to strengthen Ukraine's air defences. Ukraine's security is vital to our own,” Starmer told the NATO summit in The Hague.
Defence Secretary John Healey added that the missiles would save lives and were proof that Britain's defence industry could quickly adapt to the needs of modern warfare.
The new aid package is part of the UK's annual commitment to Ukraine to provide £4.5bn in military aid.
