The UK has been actively supporting Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s large-scale invasion. The United Kingdom has taken an active pro-Ukrainian leadership position throughout this time. And most importantly, it remains one of Ukraine’s best friends to this day, contributing to the expansion and increase of assistance from other Western partners. The United Kingdom is committed to supporting Kyiv in its fight against Russia by providing military support, focusing on naval assets, as well as financial assistance and intelligence sharing. In 2023, the country provided military assistance to Ukraine worth £2 billion – €2.35 billion. The same amount was spent on these needs in 2022.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron has said that his country will not reduce military aid to Ukraine in 2024, and will even transfer it to a multi-year basis.
The UK and Ukraine are set to sign a 10-year security pact in the coming weeks, under which London will use its naval expertise to help Kyiv control the Black Sea. The new agreement will build on the recent announcement that the UK will lead a “maritime capability coalition” with Norway to deliver two Royal Navy mine-searching ships to Ukraine. It also includes guarantees of post-war assistance should Russia attack Ukraine again.
The Royal Navy is already training Ukrainian demining specialists in unmanned submarines to disarm, disarm Russian bombs, booby traps and mines in its deep waterways and prepare for amphibious raids.
The UK may send its armed forces to Ukraine if the war develops catastrophically. Other Western countries are also approaching such a decision, but the UK is the first on the list.
Ukraine has received a £29 million (€34 million) winter humanitarian aid package, with a further £7.75 million (€9 million) to address the needs of the most vulnerable. This funding is part of the UK’s total humanitarian assistance to Ukraine for 2023-2024 of £127 million (€148 million) announced in June. In addition, the UK will provide Ukraine with £190 million (€223 million) in export financing for the purchase of nuclear fuel.
The UK has also provided more than £100 million in military aid to Ukraine, including demining equipment, equipment maintenance and defence reinforcement to protect key Ukrainian infrastructure.
British farmers have donated more than 35 off-road vehicles to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The vehicles included such models as: Mitsubishi L200, Toyota Hilux, Nissan X-Trail, Land Rover Defender and others.
Almost two years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, Britain has been providing military assistance to Ukraine. It has provided M270 multiple launch rocket systems, drones, anti-tank weapons, Challenger II tanks, AS-90 self-propelled guns, armoured vehicles and other equipment. The UK became the first Western country to announce the transfer of modern battle tanks to Ukraine. British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace played an important role in convincing Germany to provide Leopard tanks to Ukraine. London has also provided Ukraine with long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles and Martlet missiles, which will help in the fight against enemy drones. The transfer of these weapons systems gives Ukraine the best chance to defend itself against Russia’s ongoing brutality, especially the deliberate targeting of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.
In addition, the UK continues to actively train Ukrainian servicemen, with 30,000 Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers having already been trained. In addition, an additional area for medical courses has been created.
The United Kingdom remains an important trading partner of the Dnipro region. The high level of partnership is evidenced by the bilateral analysis of external activities.
British companies are most interested in ferrous metals and ferrous metal products, electrical machinery, railway equipment, etc. According to the results of 11 months of 2023, the volume of exports of goods from the Dnipro region totalled $19.6 million and increased by 2.2 times compared to the same period in 2022.
50 enterprises in the Dnipro region exported their products to the UK market, including metallurgical, machine-building, processing and agricultural companies.
Imports of goods from the UK to Dnipro region increased by 71% to $41.6 million.
In turn, 230 importing companies in the region bought British goods, including alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, pharmaceuticals, land transport vehicles, and more.
Import operations were mainly carried out by processing industry enterprises, pharmaceutical and trading companies.
Source: information for the article was taken from open online sources.
