UK set to announce new package of ‘lethal’ arms aid to Ukraine

The UK government is set to announce a major new artillery package for Ukraine as British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak prepares to meet with his Nordic, Baltic and Dutch counterparts in Latvia to discuss the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

According to a statement issued by the prime minister's office on Monday, during their meeting in Riga, Sunak will call on the leaders to maintain their support for Ukraine “through ongoing lethal aid” in the coming year.

The UK will supply “hundreds of thousands of rounds of artillery ammunition next year under a £250 million ($304 million) contract that will ensure a constant flow of critical artillery ammunition to Ukraine throughout 2023,” the statement said.

The statement also confirmed that the UK has already delivered Multiple Launch Rocket Systems and 125 anti-aircraft guns, to be used against Russian forces in the battlefield.

“We have also provided more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition since February, with the deliveries directly linked to successful operations to retake territory in Ukraine,” it added.

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In their Monday’s session, the leaders will also discuss support to Finland and Sweden ahead of their accession to NATO.

The meeting of Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), which brings together the leaders of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK, will also be addressed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The development comes on the heels of a prior announcement by the UK ministry of defense about supplying Brimstone 2 missiles to Kiev, despite Russian warnings that Western weapons only serve to prolong the Ukraine war.

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Earlier in October, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official warned the Western countries that supplying long-range and more advanced weapons to Ukraine would cross Russia’s red lines and in that case they have to be prepared for a response.

“As for the red lines, we have already designated them. First of all, these are the deliveries of long-range or more powerful weapons to Kiev. Specific measures of response to the actions by the United States and its allies supplying weapons to the Kiev regime will be defined following a thorough analysis of the developing situation,” Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second CIS Department Alexey Polischchuk told TASS news agency.

Russia's military operation in Ukraine started in late February with Moscow saying that it was aimed at defending the pro-Russian population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk against persecution by Kiev.

Since then, Ukraine's Western allies, including the European Union (EU), the US, and the UK have been supplying the ex-Soviet republic with a raft of advanced weapons and slapping Russia with a slew of sanctions.

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