UK sends $620 million in military aid to Ukraine

The U.K. Prime Minister said Tuesday that the country was putting its army industry on a “war footing” by increasing defense spending to 2.5% of GDP by the end of the decade and ordered to send arms worth 500 million pounds ($620 million) to Kyiv.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated the increase was the “biggest strengthening of our national defense for a generation.”

“In a world that is the most dangerous it has been since the end of the Cold War, we cannot be complacent,” Sunak said at a news briefing alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during a visit to Poland. “As our adversaries align, we must do more to defend our country, interests and values.”

Sunak pledged an additional £75 billion ($93 billion) in military spending over the next six years.

A decade ago, NATO leaders agreed to allocate 2% of GDP to defense spending. The recent full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia has injected new urgency into this commitment. According to NATO data, Britain has consistently spent above this threshold over the past decade, reaching a peak of 2.35% in 2020.

Source: AP