UK’s Sunak announces additional help for Ukraine during Warsaw trip

The United Kingdom will support Kyiv with an additional £500 million, raising the country’s total annual spending on Ukraine to £3.5 billion, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said during his trip to Warsaw.

Speaking alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who also visited the Polish capital on Tuesday, Sunak made two major announcements: London’s continued support for Ukraine and the UK increasing its military spending to 2.5% of GDP.

The new package announced by Sunak is the largest-ever delivery of vital military equipment, including some 400 vehicles, 1,600 rifles and four million rounds of ammunition.

“The costs of failing to support Ukraine now will be far greater than the costs of repelling Putin. Because only if he fails will he and other adversaries be deterred,” Sunak told the press conference in Warsaw.

He noted that 16,000 troops have been deployed in Europe this year. But Britain cannot be complacent and must do more, he said, hence “the biggest strengthening of our national defence for a generation”.

“We will increase defence spending to a new baseline of 2.5% of GDP, by 2030. That starts today and rises steadily in every year. Over the next six years, we’ll invest an additional £75 billion in our defence,” the British prime minister said.

This will be fully funded with no increase in borrowing or debt, “so this is not some vague aspiration for the future,” he added.

But it is not just about investing more; the UK must invest better, he said, announcing that “radical reforms (…) will ensure this new investment delivers value for money and encourage private sector investment into defence production.”

Stoltenberg welcomed Sunak’s defence spending announcement, insisting it confirmed the UK’s vital role in the Alliance. “Once again, the UK is leading by example,” he said.

The NATO chief was asked how reassured he was by Sunak’s defence announcement, given that polls suggest he will lose next year’s elections. Sunak said he did not want Stoltenberg to answer that because it would not be right to drag him into domestic politics.

In Warsaw, Sunak met Stoltenberg and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at Tusk’s office on Warsaw’s Aleje Ujazdowskie Street.

“The talks held at my chancellery office, together with the Prime Minister and Secretary General, are part of my mission of rebuilding – or even expanding – Poland’s role when it comes to security policy,” Tusk said at a press conference on Monday to announce Sunak and Stoltenberg’s visit.

When asked if Europe was in a pre-war era, as his Polish counterpart had earlier suggested, Sunak merely said, “We are in a more dangerous place than we have been since the end of the Cold War.

Ukraine ‘will never be alone’

The UK’s shipment to Ukraine will include British Storm Shadow long-range missiles, which have a range of around 240 kilometres and have proved effective in hitting Russian targets.

However, Downing Street did not say whether the aid would be ready for immediate delivery.

Sunak said Britain’s commitment “shows that Ukraine is not alone, and Ukraine will never be alone”.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)

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