Defence Secretary announces new £100m support package for Ukraine counter-offensive

The Defence Secretary has announced a new £100m package of support to help Ukraine continue its counter-offensive against Russia.

This latest aid package will include equipment to clear minefields, air defence capabilities such as counter-aerial drone systems and radars, and funds to maintain vehicles and bolster defences for its critical national infrastructure.

Money from the UK Ministry of Defence-administered International Fund for Ukraine (IFU) is providing the new support package.

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Grant Shapps and his IFU counterparts made the announcement at a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at Nato's headquarters in Brussels.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps posted on X, formerly Twitter: "We're giving Ukraine what they need to take the next step to free their people.

"Today's £100m commitment will give soldiers on the frontline the tools they need to breach Russian minefields and continue their offensive over the winter."

This latest announcement follows the previously announced IFU package of air defence capability that was signed, giving Ukraine more than £70m of capabilities such as the MSI-DS Terrahawk Paladin – a platform that can track and destroy drones.

Mr Shapps is attending his first meeting of the Nato-Ukraine Council, where member nations and Ukraine discuss the continued response to Russia's invasion.

There, the Defence Secretary will also raise British concerns regarding the crisis in Israel and Gaza, reported damage to undersea infrastructure between Finland and Estonia, and the UK's recent peacekeeping deployment to Kosovo.

Mr Shapps said: "During my recent visit to Kyiv, I assured President Zelenskyy that the UK's support for Ukraine and their most urgent needs is unwavering.

"Today I am proud to announce that the UK, alongside our allies, is delivering on that promise with new contracts to provide Ukraine with critical air defence systems to protect civilians from Putin's barbaric bombing campaign, and more than £100m of new equipment pledged to give Ukrainian soldiers what they need to breach Russia's deadly minefields."

Volodymyr Zelensky has said air defence is his country's most critical capability need and the Terrahawk Paladin will help to deliver what Ukraine needs in defence against Russian missile strikes on civilian targets.

Equipment from both the air defence package and mobility support package is expected to arrive in the coming months, where it will join other IFU-funded equipment already in Ukraine, including around 100 uncrewed aerial systems.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, Chief of the Defence Staff, said: "This new package of support is the latest in an unprecedented and sustained effort by 50 nations to give Ukraine the tools it needs to counter Russia's aggression and recover what it has lost.

"This winter, Russia will seek to undermine the morale of the Ukrainian people and divide the international community, but in both cases Putin underestimates the strength and resilience of his opposition.

"If we stick together, and stay the course, then Russia will continue to lose, Ukraine will prevail and the rules that matter to global security will endure."