1 week Ago By Christopher McKeon
Ukraine’s allies have pledged a record 21 billion euros (£18.2 billion) of military aid for Kyiv, the Defence Secretary announced as he warned that 2025 was “the critical year” for the war. The commitments follow a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG) chaired by John Healey and his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, at Nato headquarters in Brussels on Friday.
Addressing a joint press conference after the meeting, Mr Healey said: “This UDCG could not meet at a more important time, because 2025 is the critical year for this war in Ukraine, and now is the critical moment in that war.” Opening the meeting, he had urged allies to “step up our support for Ukraine in the fight”, adding: “Our job as defence ministers is to get urgent military aid into the hands of Ukrainian warfighters.” The support announced on Friday includes a £450 million package from the UK and Norway to fund radar systems, anti-tank mines, vehicle repairs and hundreds of thousands of drones for Ukraine.
Drones have come to play an increasingly important role in the Ukraine war, with Mr Healey saying on Friday that 70-80% of battlefield casualties were now inflicted by the technology – significantly outnumbering those caused by artillery. Friday’s meeting was the 27th gathering of the UDCG and the second to be chaired by Mr Healey, bringing together defence ministers from 50 nations. Previous meetings of the UDCG have been chaired by the US defence secretary, but in a sign of America’s disengagement from European security, Mr Healey has taken over the duty since Donald Trump became president in January.
However, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth attended Friday’s meeting virtually, as did Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. Mr Pistorius insisted that Mr Hegseth’s decision to attend the meeting virtually was “not a matter of priorities” but of “schedules”, adding the “most important fact was that he took part”. Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov said Mr Hegseth’s attendance “means that the US is continuing its security assistance and is beside us”.
The UDCG meeting comes the day after Mr Healey chaired a separate gathering of defence ministers from the “coalition of the willing” to discuss plans for a peacekeeping force to be deployed to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire. US envoy Steve Witkoff travelled to Russia again on Friday to press the Kremlin to accept a truce. But in Brussels there appeared to be little confidence that a pause in hostilities would come.
Mr Pistorius said “ongoing aggression” from Russia meant “we must concede peace in Ukraine appears to be out of reach in the immediate future”. Russia has already rejected an American-backed proposal for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire and appears to be dragging its feet on a more limited truce in the Black Sea agreed last month. Meanwhile, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to travel to Poland on Friday for a meeting with EU finance ministers, at which she will call for deeper co-operation on defence funding.
A Treasury source said: “A strong economy needs a strong national defence. “That is why the Chancellor will be travelling to Warsaw to make the case for deeper defence financing cooperation with our European allies so together we deliver greater economic and national security in a changed world.” The Liberal Democrats welcomed the announcement of more support for Ukraine, but said it was “small change” and urged the Government to seize Russian assets to provide more funding.
Lib Dem defence spokeswoman Helen Maguire said: “John Healey is right: 2025 is a critical year. But Britain needs to do more. “The UK must lead the charge in seizing the Russian assets held here in Britain – funnelling oligarchs’ money to back Zelensky’s brave defence of Ukraine’s sovereignty.
Without that, we risk failing Ukraine in their hour of greatest need.”.
