BRUSSELS — Britain on Friday announced a “surge” of military support to Ukraine, as the war-ravaged country’s Western backers gathered at NATO headquarters to drum up more weapons and ammunition to help fight off the Russian invasion.
Britain said that in a joint effort with Norway just over $580 million would be spent to provide hundreds of thousands of military drones, radar systems and anti-tank mines, as well as repair and maintenance contracts to keep Ukrainian armored vehicles on the battlefield.
On the eve of the meeting in Brussels, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said a key issue was strengthening his country’s air defenses. “Ukraine needs a sufficient number of modern systems like Patriot” missile systems, he said in a post on social media.
“A political decision is needed to supply these systems to protect our cities, towns, and the lives of our people — especially from the threat of Russian ballistic weapons. Our partners have such available systems,” Umerov said.
Russian forces hold the advantage in Ukraine, with the war now in its fourth year. Ukrainian officials and military analysts believe Russia is preparing to launch a fresh military offensive in coming weeks to ramp up pressure and strengthen the Kremlin’s hand in ceasefire talks.
Friday’s meeting is the 27th gathering of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. It’s being chaired by Britain and Germany. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will be absent from a forum that the United States created and led for several years, although he was due to take part via video.
Hegseth spent the first part of this week in Panama and returned to Washington on Wednesday night.
