The Defence Secretary has urged Ukraine’s allies to “look hard” at what more they can do to help Kyiv as the UK announced a £450 million “surge” in military support on Friday.
John Healey opened a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG) in Brussels with a plea to his fellow defence ministers to “step up our support for Ukraine in the fight”.
He said: “Our job as defence ministers is to get urgent military aid into the hands of Ukrainian warfighters.
“And to those nations not making fresh commitments today, I urge you to look again, to look hard at what more you can do.
“All military aid now will help Ukraine in the fight today and help secure a durable peace tomorrow, because the Ukrainian armed forces must be their own strongest deterrent against further Russian attacks.”
Friday’s meeting at Nato headquarters is the 27th gathering of the UDCG and the second to be chaired by Mr Healey, bringing together defence ministers from 50 nations.
It was co-chaired by German defence minister Boris Pistorius, who told the meeting that Ukraine had become “the epicentre of a broader conflict, a conflict between freedom and oppression, between the recognition of global standards and aggressive imperialism, between democracy and authoritarianism”.
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.
The UDCG meeting comes a day after Mr Healey chaired a gathering of defence ministers from the “coalition of the willing”, also at Nato headquarters, to discuss plans for a peacekeeping force should a ceasefire be agreed in Ukraine.
Prior to Friday’s meeting, the Ministry of Defence announced that a “major” new package of military support will be delivered by British and Ukrainian suppliers to help boost Ukraine’s armed forces as they continue to defend against Russian attack.
The package, worth £450 million, includes £350 million from the UK, with further funding being provided by Norway, via the UK-led International Fund for Ukraine.
It will include £160 million of UK funding to provide repairs and maintenance to vehicles and equipment that the UK has already provided to Ukraine – partnering UK companies with Ukrainian industry.
The package also includes a “close fight” military aid package – with funding for radar systems, anti-tank mines and hundreds of thousands of drones – worth more than £250 million, using funding from the UK and Norway building on the work of the drone capability coalition, led by the UK and Latvia.
Mr Healey added: “2025 is the critical year for the war in Ukraine, and this is the critical moment.”
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 co-operation 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.”
