UK's £2.2bn loan to Ukraine for military equipment generated by seized Russian assets

Ukraine is set to receive a £2.26bn loan from the UK to help in its ongoing fight against Vladimir Putin's forces – and Kyiv can choose how to spend it.

The money comes as part of a £38.39bn loan package agreed by the G7 group of nations and is financed through the interest on frozen Russian assets.

Ukraine could use the loan to fund air defence, artillery or other military equipment and comes on top of the UK’s existing £3bn-a-year support for Ukraine.

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the UK's support for Ukraine "is unwavering and will remain so for as long as it takes".

"This new money is in Britain's national interest because the frontline of our defence – the defence of our democracy and shared values – is in the Ukrainian trenches.

"A safe and secure Ukraine is a safe and secure United Kingdom," she added.

The G7 – the UK, US, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Italy, along with the EU – agreed in June to the loan, using the interest from Russian state funds that had been frozen as a result of sanctions.

In the immediate aftermath of Mr Putin's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian central bank assets held overseas were frozen by the allies.

The G7 agreed to use the interest on more than £200bn of immobilised funds to support Kyiv's resistance.

The UK Government will introduce new laws within weeks to enable the transfer of the new funds to Ukraine as quickly as possible.

Defence Secretary John Healey said with money generated "from these sanctioned Russian assets, we can help turn the tables on Putin's war machine".

"This urgent funding will directly support Ukraine's defence using the proceeds from assets that had helped fuel Putin's aggression," he added.

The announcement comes after a video emerged online appearing to show North Korean troops being trained inside Russia.

The video was shot through a fence by what sounds like a young Russian man, and Open Source intelligence researchers are said to have geolocated it to Primorsky Krai – an area of eastern Russia that borders North Korea.