UK announces new $781 million aid package for Ukraine
The U.K. announced a new 600-million-pound ($781 million) aid package for Ukraine on Sept. 11, as U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy visited Kyiv on a joint trip with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
According to the U.K. Foreign Office, the package includes $315 million "announced for 2024 to 2025 for immediate humanitarian, energy, and stabilization needs as well as support to reforms, recovery, and reconstruction."
The package includes 20 million pounds ($26 million) to support Ukraine's power grid and strengthen energy infrastructure ahead of winter and an expected campaign of Russian strikes.
The U.K. will also provide 100 million pounds ($130 million) worth of humanitarian aid, which will support Ukrainians living on the front line and displaced people.
The package also includes $484 million worth of loan guarantees for World Bank lending, designed to strengthen economic stability by funding public services like schools and hospitals, as well as paying pensions and public sector workers' salaries.
"The loan guarantee, delivered by the World Bank, is the second deployment of the $3 billion package the U.K. committed at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London last year," the Foreign Office said.
The U.K. will also send "hundreds of additional air defense missiles, tens of thousands of additional artillery ammunition rounds, and more armored vehicles will be delivered to Ukraine by the end of the year," the Foreign Office said.
"Alongside the United States, we are committed to giving Ukraine what it needs to resist Russia’s illegal invasion. Their fight for freedom, liberty, and democracy is also a fight for British security, European security, and global security," Lammy said.
Martin Fornusek
