Keir Starmer has announced a fresh package of military aid for Ukraine – this time paid for using the UK’s interest haul from frozen Russian assets.
The UK will send 350 advanced air defence missiles, built in Britain and adapted in record time for ground launch, using £70m of interest raised through the government’s extraordinary revenue acceleration (ERA) scheme. The move marks the first time the UK has used Russia-linked funds to directly bankroll weaponry for Kyiv.
The missiles will be deployed through UK-supplied Raven systems – five more of which are en route to Ukraine, taking the total to 13. Originally designed as air-to-air missiles, ASRAAMs have been retrofitted by RAF engineers and MBDA UK to fire from the back of a British-made truck. The conversion took just three months.
Starmer, speaking before Nato’s annual summit in The Hague, said: “Russia, not Ukraine, should pay the price for Putin’s barbaric and illegal war. It is only right we use seized Russian assets to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences. The security of Ukraine is vital to our own.”
The defence secretary, John Healey, said the missiles would save lives and were proof that the UK’s military and industrial base could adapt to the needs of modern war. He accused Moscow of continuing indiscriminate missile attacks and made clear that “Putin is not serious about peace”.
The new package is part of the UK’s largest-ever yearly commitment to Ukraine – £4.5bn in military aid. It follows a £1.6bn deal in March for more than 5,000 air defence missiles and a separate £350m investment to ramp up drone deliveries tenfold.
Ministers are also using the Nato summit to discuss escalation in the Middle East and to push allies on long-term defence spending.
Ahead of the Nato summit, the prime minister had agreed with Volodymyr Zelenskyy to work closely together on military production between the UK and Ukraine.
After meeting in No 10 on Monday, the pair announced a new military partnership in front of soldiers from Britain, Ukraine and other western allies.
The Ukrainian president has been invited to the summit but will not take part in its main discussions, which will be highly focused on defence spending.