The UK has confirmed £1.3 billion new funding for military operations and aid to Ukraine, this comes on top of the UK’s existing £1.5bn support to Ukraine, which included around £400 million in humanitarian aid and grants to the Ukrainian government, and unlocking over £700 million in lending from the World Bank through guarantees.
Prime Minister will attend virtual G7 meeting to discuss support for Ukraine, including provision of defensive legal aid
This comes on top of the £24 billion increase in defence spending announced in 2020, the biggest sustained increase in UK defence since the Cold War
The Chancellor today confirms £1.3 billion to meet the ongoing costs of military support to Ukraine during this financial year.
This is the highest rate of UK military spending on a conflict, since the height of the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan when 43,000 UK troops were deployed, and the sum spent supporting Ukraine continues to rise as the conflict endures.
The announcement comes as the Prime Minister and other G7 leaders meet virtually with President Zelenskyy today [Sunday], to mark VE day and discuss support for Ukraine’s long-term future as a sovereign and democratic country, including defensive lethal aid.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister announced £300 million for electronic warfare equipment, a counter battery radar system, GPS jamming equipment and thousands of night vision devices – this will be funded from the £1.3bn increase.
This announcement will also help support the thriving defence industry in the UK. The Prime Minister and Defence Secretary will host a meeting of leading defence companies later this month to discuss ramping up production in response to increased demand created by the conflict in Ukraine and a global shift away from Russian-made weaponry.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “Putin’s brutal attack is not only causing untold devastation in Ukraine – it is also threatening peace and security across Europe.
“The UK was the first country to recognise the scale of the threat and send arms to help the Ukrainians defend themselves. We will stand by that endeavour, working with our allies to ensure Ukraine can continue to push back the Russian invasion and survive as a free and democratic country.
“In the process, we are bolstering our own security and economy, turbocharging the development and production of cutting-edge defence equipment here in the UK.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “The situation in Ukraine continues to cause immense suffering with every day bringing new, tragic stories of Putin’s brutality.
“We are unwavering in our support for the people of Ukraine – and this extra £1.3 billion will ensure we continue to provide the necessary military and operational support they need to defend themselves against Putin.
“The UK is at the forefront providing economic, humanitarian and defensive support to Ukraine and we are working tirelessly to bring an end to this conflict.”
The additional £1.3 billion comes from the Reserve – funds the UK Government has set aside for the most pressing emergencies. This latest commitment, announced by the Chancellor Rishi Sunak today, is in addition to the UK’s current package that totals well over £1.5billion.
The support already provided includes around £400million in humanitarian aid and grants and unlocking over £700m in additional World Bank lending through loan guarantees.
The UK government is also supporting Ukrainian refugees fleeing the crisis through the Homes for Ukraine and Ukraine Family Scheme. So far more than 86,000 people have been given visas through the scheme, and more than 27,000 have already arrived in the UK.
The Integrated Review of Foreign and Defence policy resulted in the largest boost to defence in a generation, with an additional £24 billion allocated over four years to allow our armed forces to undertake a modernisation programme to reflect a rapidly changing world with emerging threats.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed a ‘Brave Ukraine’ event hosted by the Ukrainian Embassy in London last night
He told guests: Thank you very much, what an honour to speak after my friend Volodymyr Zelenskyy, truly one of the most incredible leaders of modern times.
What a blessing for Ukraine and for the world, and what a disaster for Putin that he should now be leading Ukraine in Kyiv.
It is almost exactly 80 years ago, 1942, that the BBC first broadcast Shostakovich’s Leningrad symphony to the world. This was played by a half-starving orchestra during the siege of Leningrad, while it was being pounded by the Nazis, and that symphony became a symbol of resistance to fascism, and the power of the human spirit.
I do not know whether Vladimir Putin is a Shostakovich buff or not, but is it not a tragic irony that a Russian leader, himself from Leningrad, should now be laying waste to cities in Ukraine as Volodymyr has just described.
Starving civilians, bombarding their homes, driving them underground, forcing families to huddle together in cellars, or as we have seen, in that giant steel plant in Mariupol.
But no matter what Putin tries to do to Ukraine’s people, what the exhibition that we are opening tonight shows, is that he will never break their spirit.
He will never overcome those indomitable armed forces, who have already repelled the Russian army from the gates of Kyiv, and therefore achieved the greatest feat of arms of the 21st century.
That is why I’m more certain than ever that Ukraine will win. Ukraine will be free, and a sovereign Ukraine will rise again.
And it’s because this struggle is so clear cut, and without any moral ambiguity that I can see, a struggle between freedom and oppression, between democracy and tyranny, independence and imperialism, light and darkness, good and evil, that is why I think it speaks so deeply to us.
That is why here in the UK, you can see blue and yellow flags flying everywhere, from town halls and church spires and front gardens and children’s playgrounds, and we in the United Kingdom, of every political party, all backgrounds, we are proud to be friends of Ukraine.
When Russian troops were massing on the frontiers of Ukraine in January, we were among the first European countries to send anti-tank missiles. I want you to know, and I told Volodymyr this earlier on today in our conversation, we will continue to intensify this effort for as long as Ukraine wants and needs our help.
And it is precisely because the Ukrainian people refused to surrender and precisely because they resisted so heroically that their suffering today is so severe.
Putin has driven at least one Ukrainian in every four from their homes, including two thirds of all Ukrainian children.
And just as we must help Ukraine to defend herself against aggression, so we must also do everything we can ease the terrible burden of suffering imposed on an innocent people.
Let me conclude by saying: take part in today’s charity auction. Whether you are bidding for Volodymyr’s fleece – a snip at £50,000, I want much higher bids than that, or you are bidding for a tour of Kyiv with Mayor Klitschko, I have had a tour of Kyiv with Mayor Klitschko, it’s a beautiful city. Well worth it, dig deep.
Support Ukraine tonight my friends so that that great ancient European capital Kyiv can never be threatened again, and that Ukraine can be whole and free once more.
Maggie Tookey, a 71 year old volunteer with Edinburgh Direct Aid (EDA), is currently in Ukraine.
She has just returned to Lviv, having teamed up with Norwegian and Ukrainian volunteers to make a long and difficult trip to Kremenchuk and Kharkiv in north east Ukraine.
In Kharkiv, they delivered thyroxin & wound dressings to a hospital in the west of the city; they were lucky as the heavy shelling at that time was in the north of the city. In Kremenchuk, they brought food to traumatised displaced people from Kharkiv.
Maggie says it is the stories of the elderly that she finds particularly distressing – just as she did when helping elderly victims of the Syrian conflict in recent years: “forced not only to witness death taking place in front of them but also knowing that the final years of their lives may never be spent in their own homes again”.
This is her story …
THE FIRST WEEK IN UKRAINE BEGINNING 24th APRIL 2022
So it’s one week since arriving in Ukraine to begin EDA’s third session in this embattled but extremely resiliant country.
The resistance goes on and just about the whole world is here trying to support that resistance. Still there is the belief from all the displaced Ukranians I meet through our EDA distribution programme, that Ukraine simply can’t lose this war. We can only hope that they’re right.
I’m now in Kremenchuk in Poltava region – central/eastern Ukraine and probably considered the first reasonably safe place reachable from the hell of Kharkiv, around 200km away. We arrived here – ‘we’ being Ira, our constant translator and ‘fixer’ and Knut, our big gentle Norwegian driver with his rusty but trusty Sprinter van, late on Friday night. The journey was long and took us 2 days of fairly non stop driving.
The van is like a Tardis. It just seems to keep holding more and more valuable aid so we just kept filling it until finally Knut said enough! It was overloaded but he thought it would be OK and it was. The last item we loaded as a special request was 150 civilian body bags to help with the numbers of dead in the badly hit city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city. It was a sobering request but we had the space so we were able to help – why wouldn’t we? The bags would be taken onto Kharkiv from Kremenchuk.
The first portion of the journey was fine – fast on good roads and enough fuel stations to keep the tank topped up even though we were rationed to 20 litres.
The second part of the journey which was around a 1000km in total because of diversions for damaged roads etc, was far more challenging – some of it was ‘off road’ and the rest was over the most pot holed surfaces I’ve ever experienced.
It was so bad that we kept losing various fixtures and fittings off the van – the jarring was endless and exhausting but the main problem was the scarcity of diesel. We begged and pleaded but the little fuel available was reserved for emergency and military vehicles and not even to humble volunteer bringers of aid.
We had bought more fuel containers so could carry around 80 litres of diesel but these were the reserve. We needed to keep the tank reasonably full. On one occasion we were allowed up to the front of the queue but one time we sneaked in through the ‘no entry’ route on the advice of a local and came to a pump facing the queue. Smiling broadly and constantly and looking dim works wonders as does Ira our translator who probably sheltered us from much Ukranian swearing.
Kremenchuk is a small city of around 75,000 but 22,000 Internally Displaced people have arrived in the city since the beginning of this month. It’s a typical Soviet style place – mostly large blocks of flats and 70% of its population speak Russian. Most of the displaced have fled from Kharkiv and as ever, there are some terrible stories.
The distribution has taken two different pathways. We were supplying the increasing number of IDP shelters springing up out of necessity around the city – the pressure on the Municipality is great so every aid shipment is important.
We were able to unload into a big store room here and sort out what is needed for each shelter working with the local volunteer coordinator as our guide.
The second pathway involved working with the local priest who helps many individual families in his ‘parish’, listing their needs and passing these on to anyone who might be able to help. We were royally treated by the priest and his family – they were a delight. We were hugely over fed! Once again the admiration for these volunteers and the support they try to bring to their communities is admirable.
Food shortages cause problems for all in Ukraine and although these local volunteers are not enduring constant rocket attacks like Kharkiv and other places, the deprivations of war are suffered by all.
Once again the terrible stories are told when we visit the IDP’s in the shelters. Most here are from Kharkiv, some from Donetsk and the Donbas.
They are all distressing stories but perhaps none more so than by the elderly who are forced not only to witness death take place in front of them but know that the final years of their lives may never be spent in their own homes again. I find these the hardest to deal with.
One lady of 85, Varanella, from a rural village near Luhanske, came face to face with a Russian soldier when he entered her house as she was trying to escape.
He pointed his gun at her chest ready to shoot – terrified she turned and ran into the toilet but he opened fire on her fleeing back -somehow he missed and she bolted the door but he continued firing – the bullets only partially penetrated the metal door and thick walls – she cowered in terror and finally he seemed to get bored and went off to some other house but not before trashing the inside of hers.
She stayed there until dark and then managed to get help escaping from the village to a safer town and onto Kremenchuk. She cried constantly through the telling of this story, still reliving the horror of what happened. Many of her elderly neighbours were not so lucky. She was severely traumatised.
So now she has safety, warmth, support, companionship, and food – what she doesn’t have is her beloved home and this is the greatest wish for all those I met in Kremenchuk. We spent 4 days around the shelters and individual families distributing a lot of aid but mostly we talked.
I seemed to represent some symbol of hope to them but I felt a fraud. In the end what can I do – listen and hug!
UPDATE: THURSDAY 5th MAY
EDA is just back late last night from Kharkiv very close to the Russian border and a very dangerous place to be. There is constant shelling in some parts of the city and many have died there.
I was part of a larger food and medical aid delivery by the Ukraine Guardian Angels group – all volunteers just like us.
EDA was delivering much needed Thyroxin and eye medication and wound dressings. We were pleased to complete the job safely.
EDA and its team had also just completed a 4 day distribution of urgent food and hygiene goods in the small city of Kremenchuk, in Central/eastern Ukraine.
The city and its fantastic local Ukrainian teams of volunteers are now under huge pressure to offer shelter to over 22,000 displaced and traumatised people who have fled Kharkiv and other Eastern cities being flattened by constant Russian shelling.
Edinburgh Direct Aid does what it can but it can only do what the funding allows. We need delivery transport, food and medical supplies. These are the basics. If we get help with these we can DELIVER. We are now back in Lviv taking a breather!
The Edinburgh Direct Aid Ukraine Relief Fund, which supports Maggie’s work, can be found at:
£45 million in UK funding confirmed for UN and humanitarian organisations working in Ukraine and the region
Support will protect the most vulnerable, including women and children, both in Ukraine and fleeing the conflict
Further UK medical equipment, food and other urgent lifesaving aid to be delivered in coming weeks
A package of UK support will help reach the most vulnerable people affected by the conflict in Ukraine, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss announced today.
United Nations (UN) agencies and charities working on the ground to provide care, support and protection for those in Ukraine and at its borders will receive £45 million in UK funding, as part of a wider package of support.
Nearly 16 million people are reported to be in need of humanitarian assistance within Ukraine. Over five million refugees have arrived in European countries since the conflict started, making it the fastest-growing refugee crisis since the Second World War.
Women and children are particularly vulnerable to abuse and harm. Of the £45 million, £15 million will go to the UN Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (UHF), to provide immediate life-saving assistance and help tackle sexual and gender-based violence through targeted services, legal support and crisis accommodation.
A further £15m will go to UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, to fund vital services like nutrition for pregnant women and mental health support for children.
The Foreign Secretary is also announcing today that the UK will provide further deliveries of medical supplies, on top of more than five million items already delivered, including wound care packs to treat over 220,000 patients and around 380,000 packs of medicine.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “Britain has stood shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ukraine throughout this conflict. As one of the largest humanitarian donors we will continue to make sure those bearing the brunt of Putin’s vile war have the lifesaving aid they need.
“British aid is supporting the most vulnerable in Ukraine, particularly women and children, who are facing increased risk of sexual violence and exploitation.”
These latest allocations mean the UK’s full £220 million package of support has now been committed to governments and partners to deliver support in Ukraine and the surrounding region.
Following a request from the Government of Ukraine, the UK has already committed up to £2 million in vital food supplies like dried food, tinned goods and water to areas of Ukraine encircled by Russian forces. Seventeen trucks of food with over 50,000kg of pasta, 10,000kg of rice, 60,000 tins of corned beef and over 80,000 litres of water have already been delivered.
The UK has already tripled its humanitarian support to Poland, providing £30 million to ensure vital supplies reach those in need, both inside Ukraine and those fleeing the conflict.
We are also playing a critical role providing expert assistance to countries bordering Ukraine. The UK is deploying a specialist team to Poland to assist the Ukrainian government with gathering evidence and prosecuting war crimes, including experts in conflict-related sexual violence.
Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said: “The war in Ukraine has caused immense human suffering and as always, the highest price is paid by civilians.
“This generous contribution from the United Kingdom will enable the UN’s Ukraine Humanitarian Fund to scale up the delivery of fast, effective and life-saving aid to people who are caught up in this unfolding nightmare.
“Managed in-country, the Fund is uniquely positioned to support partners, including front-line local and national NGOs, providing an agile response to the fast changing needs on the ground.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed the Ukrainian Parliament yesterday:
President Zelenskyy, Mr Chairman, members of the Verkhovna Rada. It is a big honour for me to address you at this crucial moment in history and I salute the courage with which you are meeting, the way you have continued to meet, in spite of a barbaric onslaught on your freedoms
Day after day missiles and bombs continue to rain on the innocent people of Ukraine
In the south and the east of your wonderful country, Putin continues with his grotesque and illegal campaign to take and hold Ukrainian soil
And his soldiers no longer have the excuse of not knowing what they are doing
They are committing war crimes, and their atrocities emerge wherever they are forced to retreat – as we’ve seen at Bucha, at Irpin at Hostomel and many other places
We in the UK will do whatever we can to hold them to account for these war crimes
and in this moment of uncertainty, of continuing fear and doubt
I have one message for you today:
Ukraine will win
Ukraine will be free
And I tell you why I believe you will succeed, members of the Rada
When they came to me last year, and they said that the evidence was now overwhelming that Putin was planning an invasion
and we could see his Battalion Tactical Groups – well over 100 of them – gathering on the border
I also, I remember a sense of horror but also of puzzlement.
Because I had been to Kyiv on previous visits – and I actually met some of you and I had stood in the Maidan and seen the tributes to those who had given their lives to protect Ukraine against Russian aggression
and I’ve wandered the lovely streets of your capital
and I’ve seen enough about Ukrainian freedom to know that the Kremlin was making a fundamental miscalculation, a terrible mistake
and I told anyone I knew, anyone who would listen that Ukraine would fight and Ukraine would be right
and yet there were some who believed the Kremlin propaganda that Russian armour would be like an irresistible force going like a knife through butter, and that Kyiv would fall within days
Do you remember they said that? And people rang Volodymyr and offered him safe passage out of the country, and he said – no thanks
and that this Rada of yours would have to be reformed outside Ukraine maybe in Poland or even in London perhaps
and I refused to believe it.
And today you have proved them completely wrong, every one of those military experts who said Ukraine would fall
Your farmers kidnapped Russian tanks with their tractors
Your pensioners told Russian soldiers to hop as we say, although they may have used more colourful language
Even in the parts of Ukraine that were temporarily captured, your populations, your indomitable populations turned out to protest, day after day
And though your soldiers were always outnumbered – three to one it is now – they fought with the energy and courage of lions
You have beaten them back from Kyiv
You have exploded the myth of Putin’s invincibility and you have written one of the most glorious chapters in military history and in the life of your country.
The so-called irresistible force of Putin’s war machine has broken on the immoveable object of Ukrainian patriotism and love of country.
This is Ukraine’s finest hour, that will be remembered and recounted for generations to come.
Your children and grandchildren will say that Ukrainians taught the world that the brute force of an aggressor counts for nothing against the moral force of a people determined to be free.
They will say that Ukrainians proved by their tenacity and sacrifice that tanks and guns cannot suppress a nation fighting for its independence,
and that is why I believe that Ukraine will win
You have proved the old saying – it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog – which is an old English saying, I’m not sure how well that translates in Ukrainian but you get what I’m trying to say.
And as you turned the Russian army back from the gates of Kyiv, you not only accomplished the greatest feat of arms of the 21st century, you achieved something deeper and perhaps equally significant. You exposed Putin’s historic folly, the gigantic error that only an autocrat can make.
Because when a leader rules by fear, rigs elections, jails critics, gags the media, and listens just to sycophants,
when there is no limit on his power = that is when he makes catastrophic mistakes.
And it is precisely because we understand this danger in Britain and in Ukraine – precisely because we are democracies, and because we have a free media, the rule of law, free elections and robust parliaments, such as your own,
we know that these are the best protections against the perils of arbitrary power.
When an autocrat deliberately destroys these institutions,he might look as though he is strong and some people might even believe it,
but he is sowing the seeds of catastrophe, for himself and for his country,
because there will be nothing to prevent him committing another terrible mistake Putin’s mistake was to invade Ukraine, and the carcasses of Russian armour littering your fields and streets are monuments not only to his folly, but to the dangers of autocracy itself.
What he has done is an advertisement for democracy.
On a day when Putin thought he would be in charge of Kyiv, I had the honour of being able to visit your wonderful city,
and I saw the defiance of the people of Ukraine,
I know so much about the terrible price that Ukrainians have paid and are paying for your heroism.
Today, at least one Ukrainian in every four has been driven from their homes, and it is a horrifying fact that two thirds of all Ukrainian children are now refugees, whether inside the country or elsewhere.
So no outsider like me can speak lightly about how the conflict could be settled, if only Ukraine would relinquish this or that piece or territory or we find some compromise for Vladimir Putin.
We know what happens to the people left in the in clutches of this invader.
And we who are your friends must be humble about what happened in in 2014,
because Ukraine was invaded before for the first time, when Crimea was taken from Ukraine and the war in the Donbas began
The truth is that we were too slow to grasp what was really happening and we collectively failed to impose the sanctions then that we should have put on Vladimir Putin.
We cannot make the same mistake again.
And it is precisely because of your valour your courage your sacrifice that Ukrainians now control your own destiny: you are the masters of your fate, and no-one can or should impose anything on Ukrainians.
We in the UK will be guided by you and we are proud to be your friends,
I am proud to say our Ambassador, Melinda Simmons, is back in Kyiv to reopen our embassy.
In January of course– just before Putin launched his onslaught – we sent you planeloads of anti-tank missiles, the NLAWS which I think have become popular in Kyiv,
and we have intensified that vital effort, working with dozens of countries, helping to coordinate this ever- bigger supply line, dispatching thousands of weapons of many kinds, including tanks now and armoured vehicles.
In the coming weeks, we in the UK will send you Brimstone anti-ship missiles and Stormer anti-aircraft systems.
We are providing armoured vehicles to evacuate civilians from areas under attack and protect officials – what Volodymyr mentioned to me in our most recent call – while they maintain critical infrastructure.
And I can announce today from the UK government a new package of support totalling £300 million, including radars to pinpoint the artillery bombarding your cities, heavy lift drones to supply your forces, and thousands of night vision devices.
We will carry on supplying Ukraine, alongside your other friends, with weapons, funding and humanitarian aid, until we have achieved our long-term goal, which must be so to fortify Ukraine that no-one will ever dare to attack you again.
Here in the UK, in my country, you will see Ukrainian flags flying from church spires and in shop windows. You see Ukrainian ribbons on the lapels of people up and down the country.
There are many reasons your country has evoked such astonishing sympathy in the British people.
It is a conflict that has no moral ambiguities or no grey areas.
This is about the right of Ukrainians to protect themselves against Putin’s violent and murderous aggression
It is about Ukraine’s right to independence and national self-determination, against Putin’s deranged imperialist revanchism
It is about Ukrainian democracy against Putin’s tyranny
It is about freedom versus oppression
It is about right versus wrong
It is about good versus evil
And that is why Ukraine must win
And when we look at the heroism of the Ukrainian people and the bravery of your leader Volodomyr Zelenskyy – we know that Ukraine will win
And we in the UK will do everything we can to restore a free sovereign and independent Ukraine
Thank you all very much for listening to me today, and slava Ukraini!
Radio ENRG is delighted to present the return of its annual 24-hour Charity Broadcast Extravaganza, with funds raised going to support those affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Student journalists at Edinburgh Napier University will be on air from 12pm on Wednesday 4th May right through until noon on Thursday.
A range of dynamic and exciting shows will keep listeners entertained right through the night, with dedicated slots for musical lovers, indie fans and dance ravers.
There will also be special quizzes, live phone-ins and fierce debate, all produced by current journalism students.
Radio ENRG’s sister websites will also contribute to the broadcast, with political discussion from ENRG Debrief and all sporting needs catered for by the team at the award-winning ENRG Sport.
This will be the first time since 2019 that Radio ENRG has been able to hold its annual charity broadcast, due to the pandemic.
Students raised £625 for Endo Warriors West, a charity supporting women with endometriosis, in the most recent edition of the 24-hour charity broadcast.
This year’s event has been organised by ENRG Editor Seán McGill and Radio ENRG Station Managers Jessica Matthewson and Arran Proctor.
All four year groups will be represented on the event, with some fourth year students using it as a way to bow out of their radio shows ahead of their graduation.
Editor of ENRG, Seán McGill, said: “The decision to send this year’s money to Ukraine was an easy one. By the time the 24-hour broadcast is live, we’ll have passed 70 days since Russia’s invasion began, and more and more people are suffering every day because of it.
“Being on the radio is great fun, but if we, as a group of students, can also do some good while being on air, we see that as a real privilege.”
Co-Station Manager, Jessica Matthewson, said: “Due to the pandemic, we have been unable to conduct our annual charity broadcast for the last two years.
“We’re all so excited to be back in the studio this year, especially due to the fact that we are raising money for such a worthy cause.”
Co-Station Manager, Arran Proctor, said: “Radio ENRG is an amazing source of gaining skills in broadcast journalism. Doing this charity broadcast means that student journalists are advancing their talents for good!”
A social media team will be working hard throughout the night, taking song requests and posting updates at @RadioENRG.
Radio ENRG’s Charity Broadcast Extravaganza will be live from 12pm-12pm tomorrow (Wednesday 4th May into Thursday 5th May) on the Radio ENRG website radioenrg.net.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said that “geopolitics is back” and argued for a “reboot” in the free world’s approach to tackling global aggressors in the wake of the Ukraine crisis:
My Lord Mayor, Your Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen.
According to some, this was destined to be the era of authoritarianism.
Three years ago Vladimir Putin said Western liberalism was dead.
Last year President Xi argued that the west is declining.
In April 2022 things look very different.
Recent months have shown the deep resilience of the human spirit and of free societies
Faced with appalling barbarism and war crimes, which we’d hoped had been consigned to history, the free world has united behind Ukraine in its brave fight for freedom and self-determination.
Those who think they can win through oppression, coercion or invasion are being proved wrong by this new stand on global security – one that not only seeks to deter, but also ensures that aggressors fail.
We cannot be complacent – the fate of Ukraine hangs in the balance.
But let’s be clear – if Putin succeeds there will be untold further misery across Europe and terrible consequences across the globe.
We would never feel safe again.
So we must be prepared for the long haul. We’ve got to double down on our support for Ukraine. And we must also follow through on the unity shown in the crisis. We must reboot, recast and remodel our approach.
My vision is a world where free nations are assertive and in the ascendant.
Where freedom and democracy are strengthened through a network of economic and security partnerships.
Where aggressors are contained and forced to take a better path.
This is the long term prize: a new era of peace, security of prosperity.
Let’s be honest. The architecture that was designed to guarantee peace and prosperity has failed Ukraine.
The economic and security structures that were developed after the Second World War and the Cold War have been bent out of shape so far, they have enabled rather than contained aggression.
Russia is able to block any effective action at the UN Security Council. Putin sees his veto as a green light to barbarism.
He’s walked away from the NATO-Russia Founding Act and the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. He’s violated multiple measures on arms control.
The G20 can’t function as an effective economic body while Russia remains at the table.
The Soviet Union used to regularly use their UN veto, but, for all the many evils they inflicted, even they behaved with some kind of rationality on the world stage.
They were able to stick to deals when they saw risks to strategic stability, as they did with the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
They would de-escalate when they were confronted and called out, as with the Cuban Missile Crisis 60 years ago.
And they had their eye on their global reputation.
None of these factors apply to Putin.
We are dealing with a desperate rogue operator with no interest in international norms.
This is at a time when the world economy had never been more open to Russia.
During the Cold War western allies fuelled each other’s prosperity, and we restricted flows of trade, investment and technology to the USSR.
In the 1990s these constraints were removed but it didn’t lead to the expected gains in economic openness and democracy.
We took progress for granted instead of applying the necessary carrots and sticks.
And leaders like Putin spurned the opportunity to change because they feared losing control. Instead they took the money from oil and gas and used it to consolidate power and gain leverage abroad.
Wandel durch handel – the assumption that economic integration drives political change – didn’t work.
We now need a new approach, one that melds hard security and economic security, one that builds stronger global alliances and where free nations are more assertive and self-confident, one that recognises geopolitics is back.
Britain has always stood up to bullies.
We have always been risk takers.
So we are prepared be bold, using our strength in security and diplomacy, our economic heft, and our will and agility to lead the way.
We are already stepping up in Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine is our war – it is everyone’s war because Ukraine’s victory is a strategic imperative for all of us.
Heavy weapons, tanks, aeroplanes – digging deep into our inventories, ramping up production. We need to do all of this.
Our sanctions have already seen Russia facing its first external debt default for a century. We need to go further.
There must be nowhere for Putin to fund this appalling war. That means cutting off oil and gas imports once and for all.
At the same time, we need to deliver support to the Ukrainian people. It means helping refugees, it means delivery of food, medicine, and other essentials, and it means keeping the economy afloat.
It also means holding the Putin regime to account for the appalling crimes that have been committed.
And, when the guns finally fall silent in Ukraine, it means making sure Kyiv has the resources it needs to maintain security, deter further attacks, and rebuild.
That’s why we are working on our joint commission with Poland to ensure Ukraine is equipped with NATO-standard weapons.
And it’s why we are determined to work with the US, with the EU and other allies on a new Marshall Plan for the country.
Ukraine deserves nothing less than a landmark international effort to rebuild their towns and cities, regenerate their industries, and secure their freedom for the long term.
We are doubling down.
We will keep going further and faster to push Russia out of the whole of Ukraine.
And this has to be a catalyst for wider change.
We must also apply this tough stance to the threats that are emerging beyond Ukraine.
Our new approach is based on three areas: military strength, economic security and deeper global alliances.
Firstly, we need to strengthen our collective defence.
In the words of President Zelenskyy: “Freedom must be better armed than tyranny.”
Ahead of the NATO summit in Madrid, we need to lift our sights.
We have long argued that NATO needs to be flexible, agile and integrated.
The Eastern Flank must be strengthened, and we must support crucial states like Poland. That’s why we are increasing our troop presence and we’re deepening our defence cooperation.
We also have to learn the lessons of Ukraine.
The UK sent weapons and trained Ukrainian troops long before the war started.
But the world should have done more to deter the invasion. We will never make that same mistake again.
Some argue we shouldn’t provide heavy weapons for fear of provoking something worse.
But my view, is that Inaction would be the greatest provocation. This is a time for courage not for caution.
And we must ensure that, alongside Ukraine, the Western Balkans and countries like Moldova and Georgia have the resilience and the capabilities to maintain their sovereignty and freedom.
NATO’s open door policy is sacrosanct.
If Finland and Sweden choose to join in response to Russia’s aggression, we must integrate them as soon as possible.
And we reject the false choice between stronger traditional defence and modern capabilities. We need to defend ourselves against attacks in space and cyberspace as well as by land, air and sea.
We also reject the false choice between Euro-Atlantic security and Indo-Pacific security. In the modern world we need both.
We need a global NATO.
By that I don’t mean extending the membership to those from other regions.
I mean that NATO must have a global outlook, ready to tackle global threats.
We need to pre-empt threats in the Indo-Pacific, working with our allies like Japan and Australia to ensure the Pacific is protected.
And we must ensure that democracies like Taiwan are able to defend themselves.
All of this will require resources.
We are correcting a generation of underinvestment.
That’s why the Prime Minister has announced the biggest investment in our Armed Forces since the Cold War. We recognised Russia as the most acute threat in our Integrated Review, adopting the same vigilance as NATO’s Eastern Allies.
Others are now also stepping up as well. But we all need to go further.
Spending 2% on defence must be a floor, not a ceiling.
There is no substitute for hard military power, backed by intelligence and diplomacy.
Secondly, we need to recognise the growing role that the economy plays in security.
In the UK we are now using all of our economic levers – trade, sanctions, investment and development policy – in a much more assertive way.
We recognise that growth from cheap gas and money syphoned from kleptocracies is growth built on sand. It’s not the same as real, sustained growth from higher productivity and greater innovation.
Free trade and free markets are the most powerful engine of human progress. We will always champion economic freedom.
But free trade must be fair – and that means playing by the rules.
For too long many have been naïve about the geopolitical power of economics. Aggressors treat it as a tool of foreign policy – using patronage, investment and debt as a means to exert control and coerce.
They are ruthless in their approach. Our response won’t mirror their malign tactics, but we will match them in our resolve.
It’s time to wise up.
Access to the global economy must depend on playing by the rules.
There can be no more free passes.
We are showing this with the Russia-Ukraine conflict – Russia’s pass has been rescinded.
We are hitting them with every element of economic policy.
We have raised tariffs on Russian goods. We’ve cut them off from WTO terms. We’ve banned their ships from our ports, we’ve banned their planes from our airports.
We have sanctioned more individuals and organisations than any other nation, hitting Russia’s banks, oligarchs, defence companies, Central Bank reserves, and oil and gas supplies.
We’re cutting off the funding for Putin’s war effort.
We are also cutting investment ties with Russia – banning all new outward investment and ending the investor visa.
At the same time, we are removing all import tariffs for Ukraine, and we’re supporting the Ukrainian economy with loan guarantees, fiscal support and investment.
We are showing that economic access is no longer a given. It has to be earned.
Countries must play by the rules.
And that includes China.
Beijing has not condemned Russian aggression or its war crimes. Russian exports to China rose by almost a third in the first quarter of this year.
They have sought to coerce Lithuania. They are commenting on who should or shouldn’t be a member of NATO. And they are rapidly building a military capable of projecting power deep into areas of European strategic interest.
But China is not impervious.
By talking about the rise of China as inevitable we are doing China’s work for it.
In fact, their rise isn’t inevitable. They will not continue to rise if they don’t play by the rules.
China needs trade with the G7. We represent half of the global economy. And we have choices.
We have shown with Russia the kind of choices we’re prepared to make when international rules are violated.
And we’ve shown that we’re prepared to prioritise security and respect for sovereignty over short-term economic gain. Not least because we know that the cost of not acting is higher.
The fact is that most of the world does respect sovereignty. It is only a few pariahs and outliers that don’t.
So we are working more closely with allies and friends – old and new.
And the same assertive approach that can constrain our rivals, can be a powerful driver of prosperity and security.
That’s why we’re building new trade links, including working on Free Trade Agreements with countries like India and Indonesia and joining the CPTPP.
We’re sharing our expertise in science and tech, signing new partnerships around the world. And we’re providing a better offer on development, with investment to low-income countries that comes without malign strings attached.
By being tough and united, by working together and expanding trade, we can deprive aggressors of their leverage and we can reduce strategic dependence.
We can help each other to weather the storm of soaring food and energy prices. At the World Bank last week we secured $170 billion to help low income countries deal with these challenges.
And we are getting ahead in other possible areas of strategic dependence.
Whether it is minerals or rare earth metals, we are joining forces to prevent future problems before they emerge.
This is how we will strengthen our shared economic security.
That brings onto the final point, which is that our prosperity and security must be built on a network of strong partnerships.
This is what I have described as the Network of Liberty.
The fundamental principle is that no matter the challenges, we should not turn inward and pursue autarky.
We should reach out and embrace new partnerships, what the Dutch and others have called “open autonomy.”
In a world where malign actors are trying to undermine multilateral institutions, we know that bilateral and plurilateral groups will play a greater role.
Partnerships like NATO, the G7 and the Commonwealth are vital.
We should keep strengthening our NATO alliance with bonds around the world, like the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force, the 5 Eyes, and the AUKUS partnership we have with the US and Australia.
And we want to keep growing our ties with countries like Japan, India and Indonesia.
We also should build on the strong core that we have in the G7.
During the UK’s Presidency last year I was pleased to bring friends like Australia, Korea, India, South Africa and ASEAN to the table.
The G7 should act as an economic NATO, collectively defending our prosperity.
If the economy of a partner is being targeted by an aggressive regime we should act to support them. All for one and one for all.
And to the 141 countries, from all continents, who voted to condemn Russia’s actions in the UN.
I hear your voice.
I share your outrage at Russia’s illegal war.
I share your fundamental belief in sovereignty, in fair play and the rule of law.
So let’s work together. Let’s forge deeper bonds. Let’s be better traders, investors, and partners than the aggressors.
The UK is prepared to do things differently, to think differently, and to work differently with you to get things done.
There is huge strength in collective action.
And let me be clear, this also applies to alliances that the UK is not part of.
We support the Indo-Pacific quad.
We support an outward-looking EU and we’re working closely together on Ukraine.
We support ASEAN, the African Union, and the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
We reject the old ideas of hierarchical systems, exclusive groups and spheres of influence.
We want to see a network of partnerships stretching around the world, standing up for sovereignty and self-determination, and building shared prosperity.
The UK will be an active and agile part of this network.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
Geopolitics is back.
After the Cold War we all thought that peace, stability and prosperity would spread inexorably around the globe.
We thought that we’d learned the lessons of history and that the march of progress would continue unchallenged.
We were wrong. But this is no counsel of despair.
In the face of rising aggression we do have the power to act, and we need to act now.
We must be assertive. Aggressors are looking at what has happened in Ukraine. We need to make sure that they get the right message.
Together we have tremendous strength. Let’s use it to forge a better, more secure world and a stronger global economy.
This will take the energies of all the people in this room and beyond. It will be hard. But we have to step up and take responsibility.
The aggressors are prepared to be bold – we must be bolder.
That is how we will ensure that Ukraine’s sovereignty is restored.
That is how we will ensure that aggression and coercion fail.
That is how, across the globe, we will win this new era for peace, security and prosperity.
UK is sending more ambulances and fire engines to Ukraine as part of continued support to the country
New UK funding to help train Ukrainian doctors to deal with mass casualties and vital medicine following Russian attacks on Ukrainian hospitals
Donations are in response to a request from Ukraine’s Government as they regain access to medical facilities in frontline cities
New ambulances, fire engines, funding for health experts and life-saving medical supplies are being donated to Ukraine as part of the UK’s continued steadfast solidarity with the country, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced today (Tuesday 26 April).
There have been more than 130 attacks on healthcare facilities since the invasion and the UN has recorded around 4,800 civilian casualties. More than 100 fire stations and 250 fire engines have been destroyed in Ukraine.
The UK is supplying 22 new ambulances to Ukraine – in addition to those from NHS Trusts already announced – equipped with paramedic kits and medical grab bags. They are due to leave for Ukraine in the coming days. This is in direct response to a request from the Ukrainian government.
Two further convoys of more than 40 fire engines – packed with thousands of items of rescue equipment including 300 fire hoses and almost 10,000 items of protective clothing – have arrived in Ukraine and are already providing vital support to firefighters on the frontline. This is the largest fire deployment to ever leave the UK.
The UK has already committed up to $1 billion in loan guarantees to support Multilateral Development Banks, such as the World Bank, to bolster Ukraine’s economy and allow the government in Kyiv to continue providing basic services. The total offer of humanitarian support to the current Ukraine crisis is around £400 million.
This goes alongside the Prime Minister’s commitment to continue to provide defensive military aid, including protected mobility vehicles, drones and anti-tank weapons to Ukraine – reiterated on a call to President Zelenskyy on the weekend.
Last week the Prime Minister announced Ukrainian personnel are being trained in the use of armoured vehicles in the United Kingdom.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “We have all been appalled by the abhorrent images of hospitals deliberately targeted by Russia since the invasion began over two months ago.
“The new ambulances, fire engines and funding for health experts announced today will better equip the Ukrainian people to deliver vital health care and save lives.
“Together with our military support, we will help to strengthen Ukraine’s capability to make sure Putin’s brutal invasion fails.”
Frontline medical aid charity, UK-Med, will receive funding – worth up to £300,000 – from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to help train Ukrainian doctors, nurses and paramedics on how to deal with mass casualties.
They will also set up mobile health clinics to support the most vulnerable civilians remaining in Ukraine, including the elderly and young children.
The UK is also donating £300,000 worth of medicines and pharmaceutical supplies to UK-Med which could support a hospital for up to six weeks.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “The Kremlin continues to lie about deliberate attacks on Ukraine’s hospitals and the indiscriminate targeting of civilians.
“Now our vital humanitarian support will help save lives and deliver medical expertise to the frontline.”
Minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency Jacob Rees-Mogg said: “I was privileged to be able to visit Ashford and meet the volunteers and civil servants behind the fire aid shipments to Ukraine.
“This aid demonstrates the tremendous practical work that Britain’s public servants are doing for the people of Ukraine, and is an example of the good-heartedness of the British people and their determination to help.”
More than five million medical items have also been donated to Ukraine including wound packs, intensive care equipment and medicines.
At the beginning of March, UK-Med launched a national fundraising appeal to fund its work in Ukraine and has sent 26 doctors, nurses, paramedics, surgeons and humanitarian health programme specialists to the country.
UK-Med CEO David Wightwick who’s currently in Eastern Ukraine said: “I’ve seen with my own eyes the devastating impact of this cruel war. Ensuring the more than 7 million internally displaced people across the country have access to vital primary health care is and will continue to be of the upmost importance for many months to come.
“This very welcome funding from the UK government will enable us to continue to deliver primary health care and lifesaving specialist clinical training in both the east and the west of the country, reaching those who need it most.
“We’re proud to stand in solidarity with the people and with our Ukrainian medical colleagues in this desperate time.”
UNLUCKY FOR SOME: First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also one of thirteen ‘not getting in’
The Prime Minister spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday afternoon.He paid tribute to the bravery of Ukrainian forces who continue to valiantly defend their country’s freedom.
President Zelenskyy updated the Prime Minister on the situation in Mariupol, and the Prime Minister said he saluted Ukrainian resistance in the city.
The pair discussed the need for a long-term security solution for Ukraine, and the Prime Minister said he would continue to work closely with allies and partners to ensure Ukraine could defend its sovereignty in the weeks and months to come.
The Prime Minister also updated President Zelenskyy on new sanctions from the UK that came into force last week, and said the UK would continue to provide the means for Ukraine to defend itself, including armoured vehicles in the coming days.
The Prime Minister said international support for Ukraine only grew stronger and that he remained convinced Ukraine would succeed and Putin would fail.
Russia has banned Prime Minister Boris Johnson and some other senior cabinet ministers from entering Russia, citing the UK’s ‘hostile’ stance on the war in Ukraine.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and former Prime Minister Theresa May have also been barred.
The statement, issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry yesterday, reads:
‘In connection with the unprecedented hostile actions of the British government, expressed, in particular, in the imposition of sanctions against top officials of the Russian Federation, a decision was made to include key members of the British government and a number of political figures in the Russian “stop list”.
‘This step was taken as a response to London’s unbridled information and political campaign aimed at isolating Russia internationally, creating conditions for containing our country and strangling the domestic economy.
‘In essence, the British leadership is deliberately aggravating the situation around Ukraine, pumping the Kyiv regime with lethal weapons and coordinating similar efforts on the part of NATO.
‘The instigation of London is also unacceptable, which is strongly pushing not only its Western allies, but also other countries to introduce large-scale anti-Russian sanctions, which, however, are senseless and counterproductive.
‘The Russophobic course of the British authorities, whose main task is to incite a negative attitude towards our country, curtail bilateral ties in almost all areas, is detrimental to the well-being and interests of the inhabitants of Britain itself. Any sanctions attacks will inevitably hit their initiators and receive a decisive rebuff.
‘The following is a list of British subjects who are no longer allowed to enter the Russian Federation:
Boris JOHNSON (Alexander Boris de Pfeffel JOHNSON) – Prime Minister;
Dominic Rennie RAAB – Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice;
Elizabeth TRASS (Elizabeth Mary TRUSS) – Minister of Foreign Affairs;
Ben WALLACE – Secretary of Defense;
Grant SHAPPS – Minister of Transport;
Priti PATEL – Minister of the Interior;
Rishi SUNAK – Minister of Finance;
Kwasi KWARTENG – Minister of Entrepreneurship, Energy and Industrial Strategy;
Nadine Vanessa DORRIES – Minister of Digitalization, Culture, Media and Sports;
James HEAPPEY – Deputy Secretary of Defense;
Nicola Ferguson STURGEON – First Minister of Scotland;
Suella BRAVERMAN – Attorney General for England and Wales;
Theresa MAY is a Conservative MP and former British Prime Minister.
‘In the near future, this list will be expanded to include British politicians and parliamentarians who contribute to whipping up anti-Russian hysteria, pushing the “collective West” to use the language of threats in dialogue with Moscow, and shamelessly inciting the Kiev neo-Nazi regime.’
Reacting to the ban, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon described President Putin as ‘a war criminal’ and said she would not ‘shy away from condemning him and his regime’.
NHS Lothian staff and patients at the Robert Fergusson Unit (RFU) have walked four million steps in under a month to raise money for Ukraine.
Four million steps is how many it would take to walk the distance between the RFU and Kyiv. A step challenge, rather than a distance challenge, ensured patients with limited mobility could also take part.
The RFU, based at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, is a national NHS neuro-rehabilitation service for patients with acquired brain injury and associated behavioural disturbance.
Helen O’Leary, Occupational Therapist at the RFU, said: “Our staff and patients really wanted to do their bit to help the humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.
“Though some of our patients have a reduced ability to interact with the world, they are still aware of what goes on globally and are incredibly generous and kind.
“It’s so wonderful to see patients who wouldn’t otherwise be so active get up and walk around, and for such a good cause.”
The RFU team raised £2,358 in donations and £446 in Gift Aid, which will go to the British Red Cross to help provide aid to the people of Ukraine.
The team’s efforts have also resulted in improved long-term activity among both patients and staff. This is key to relieving stress and managing neurological conditions and some patients are continuing to count their steps even after they have reached their goal.
