Sunak confirms over £2.3bln package to be sent to Ukraine in 2023
The UK Prime Minister says his country is due to send "more arms in the next three months" than was delivered in 2022.
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UK PM Rishi Sunak and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev in November 2022 (AP)
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed on Saturday that the UK has sent £2.3 billion ($2.8 billion) in 2022 to Ukraine and will be providing the equivalent or more in 2023, in addition to intending to be the first nation to transfer longer-range weapons to the latter.
During the 2023 Munich Security Conference, Sunak said, "Just this year we became the first country in the world to provide tanks to Ukraine and the first to train pilots and marines. We gave 2.3 billion pounds last year, and we will match or exceed that in 2023," adding that his country is due to send "more arms in the next three months" than was delivered in 2022.
Read next: London not to send fighter jets to Kiev of this threatens UK: Reports
Sunak also attempted to persuade the European Union to send more weapons to Ukraine, "What do we have those stockpiles for? If you are a European nation and you have this equipment … and if one of those stockpiles is now helping to degrade a Russian tank, that is precisely what it would have been used for, you would have in your stockpile for,"
This comes after Polish President Andrzej Duda agreed with Sunak on the need to provide Ukraine with more weapons in the coming weeks, in addition to supplying training sessions in the UK Ukrainian pilots on NATO aircraft.
Welcome to the UK, President @ZelenskyyUa.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) February 8, 2023
🇬🇧🇺🇦 #SlavaUkraini pic.twitter.com/rMoBTC3ken
Weapon packages to make UK army weaker
Just 10 days ago on February 8, Sunak announced that the creation of new programs is intended to expand the horizons for military training for Ukraine's troops so as to form new fighter jet pilots and marines. "I am proud that today we will expand that training from soldiers to marines and fighter jet pilots, ensuring Ukraine has a military able to defend its interests well into the future," he said.
Even in an interview with Piers Morgan at the beginning of this month, the PM said that fighter jets were "incredibly sophisticated pieces of equipment that require months if not years for people to be trained on".
"Our desire and goal are for Ukraine to win this conflict… So, it's not just the equipment it's also the capabilities and training that come alongside that, together with a plan with our allies that would ensure that they can be victorious."
The British army chief, General Sir Patrick Sanders, warned on January 17 that sending tanks and artillery guns to Ukraine will leave the British army weaker.
In an internal message sent to troops, Sanders said Ukraine would put British military assistance to "good use" against Russia. At the same time, he warned that this would leave the British army "temporarily weaker".
