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UK Defense Ministry announces $115 million air defense package for Ukraine

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UK Defense Ministry announces $115 million air defense package for Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of a bilateral meeting during the European Political Community (EPC) Summit at Mimi Castle in Bulboaca near Chisinau, Moldova, on June 1, 2023. (Photo: Carl Court/PA Images via Getty Images)

The U.K. Defense Ministry announced a new air defense package for Ukraine on June 13 worth $115 million.

According to the press release, the acquisition of the air defense systems is currently underway through the International Fund for Ukraine (IFU) and is expected to be completed in the coming months "to bolster Ukraine’s ability to protect its critical national infrastructure, civilian population, and front-line personnel."

The U.K. has also contributed an additional $315 million to the IFU, an allied initiative that also includes Norway, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, and Lithuania, to provide military support to Ukraine.

The latest air defense package will include reconnaissance and strike drones which are expected to be transferred to Ukraine in the summer.

The U.S. also announced a new $325 million defense aid package for Ukraine on June 13, which includes armored vehicles, missile launchers, and munitions.

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Kate Tsurkan

Culture Reporter

Kate Tsurkan is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent who writes mostly about culture-related topics. Her newsletter Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan, which focuses specifically on Ukrainian culture, is published weekly by the Kyiv Independent and is partially supported by a generous grant from the Nadia Sophie Seiler Fund. Kate co-translated Oleh Sentsov’s “Diary of a Hunger Striker,” Myroslav Laiuk’s “Bakhmut,” Andriy Lyubka’s “War from the Rear,” and Khrystia Vengryniuk’s “Long Eyes,” among other books. Some of her previous writing and translations have appeared in the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Harpers, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. She is the co-founder of Apofenie Magazine and, in addition to Ukrainian and Russian, also knows French.

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