Britain sends Ukraine 6,000 more missiles to 'keep the flame of freedom alive' amid fears Kyiv is running low on weaponry needed to repel Russian invaders
- Britain is giving Ukraine 6,000 more missiles and £25million to help defend itself
- Ordnance include Javelin missiles and Next Generation Light Anti-tank Weapons
- Boris Johnson tonight announced the huge extra delivery of military equipment
By ANDY JEHRING FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 09:30 AEDT, 24 March 2022 | UPDATED: 09:30 AEDT, 24 March 2022
Britain is giving Ukraine 6,000 more missiles and £25million to support its desperate struggle against the Russian invasion.
This represents a 120 per cent increase in the amount of arms the UK has provided after previously sending 4,000 anti-tank systems.
These included Javelin missiles and Next Generation Light Anti-tank Weapons, known as NLAWs. Ukrainian defenders have even been heard yelling ‘God save the Queen!’ as they fire them.
Boris Johnson tonight announced a huge extra delivery of equipment including anti-tank and high explosive weapons, amid fears Kyiv is running low.
A Ukrainian serviceman fires an NLAW anti-tank weapon during an exercise in the Joint Forces Operation, in the Donetsk region
The UK will also provide £25million in financial backing to fund Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s armed forces.
At a major summit in Brussels today, Mr Johnson will urge other Nato members to step up support after Germany and France were accused of failing to honour their pledges on arms supply.
Mr Johnson said: ‘One month into this crisis, the international community faces a choice. We can keep the flame of freedom alive in Ukraine, or risk it being snuffed out across Europe and the world.’
The PM and his fellow leaders will discuss longer-term military, diplomatic and humanitarian support amid fears that Kyiv will run out of missiles in two weeks.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson pictured speaking to Ukrainian President Zelensky earlier today
Defending forces are using up a weeks’ worth of weapons every 20 hours, and need far more to take the fight to Russia.
Vadym Prystaiko, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK says Mr Zelensky will ask Nato to provide ‘longer range’ missiles.
‘We have enough weapons to stop tanks immediately when they approach us,’ he said.
‘But to clear out our land we need something with a much greater distance.’
The Ukrainian president last night said that Mr Johnson had given him ‘assurances of his support’ amid fears that France and Germany are backsliding on their own promises.
Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces members train to use an NLAW anti-tank weapon on the outskirts of Kyiv
German chancellor Olaf Scholz told his parliament yesterday: ‘Ukraine can rely on our help. Since the beginning of the war, we have been supplying weapons and imposing sanctions that are second to none.’
But Ukraine’s ambassador to Berlin, Andriy Melnyk, accused the country of ignoring urgent requests for weapons for the last three weeks when ‘every day counts to save the lives of the civilian population’.
Officials in Kyiv say deliveries of defensive kit have ‘slowed to a trickle’.
‘If we don’t sort out the supply issue soon it is going to be a slaughter,’ said Paul Grod, president of the Ukrainian World Congress.
‘We are going to have 200,000 members of the territorial defence trying to fight tanks with AK47s. Quite frankly, they will become cannon fodder.
‘The UK has been doing a marvellous job leading the way and there is big kudos to Britain in Kyiv, but more is needed. France and Germany have been problematic... really dragging their feet.’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a broadcast speech in Kyiv
Mr Scholz struck a cautious tone yesterday on reducing Germany’s energy dependence on Russia.
‘To do this from one day to the next would mean plunging our country and the whole of Europe into a recession,’ he said. ‘Hundreds of thousands of jobs would be in danger. Sanctions should not hurt European states harder than the Russian leadership.’
Meanwhile, the UK’s former defence attache to Moscow claimed yesterday that the Government ignored many warnings that Vladimir Putin would attack.
Retired air commodore Carl Scott, who served from 2011 to 2016, said Russia’s ‘long, dark march to war’ was ignored due to ‘corrupt Russian wealth’ invested in London.
‘We reported the inevitability of conflict in detail, regularly,’ he said in a scathing letter to the Financial Times.
Mr Scott also said that the Kremlin had been ‘greatly emboldened' by Brexit.