UK to boost Ukraine's artillery reserves with £245 million munitions package
London, United Kingdom (Svidomi) — The UK will spend £245 million throughout the next year to procure and invigorate supply chains to produce urgently needed artillery ammunition for Ukraine, the British government posted a statement on its website.
UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had pushed back Russian invaders and recaptured "half of the land stolen by Putin".
In Grant’s words, over the two years of full-scale war, Russia has lost approximately 30 per cent of its Black Sea Fleet destroyed or damaged.
"But they (Ukrainians) cannot win this fight without the support of the international community. Nearly a quarter of a billion pounds’ worth of UK funding will boost their critical stockpiles of artillery ammunition, while the Royal Air Force completes a further delivery of advanced tank-busting missiles,"
Shapps said.
A new series of contracts has also been signed between the Ministry of Defence's procurement arm, Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), and UK-based Cook Defence Systems to provide hundreds of spare caterpillar tracks for tanks and armoured vehicles for Ukraine.
"Tracks will be produced to support hundreds of types of vehicle including Soviet-era platforms abandoned by Russian forces and recovered by the AFU, as well as those provided by the UK such as Challenger 2 tanks and CVR(T) reconnaissance vehicles," the statement reads.
It will be recalled that the UK will provide Ukraine with another 200 Brimstone anti-tank missiles and train another 10,000 Ukrainian servicemen in the first part of 2024.
