Britain announces more support for Ukraine's fight against Russia as
Kyiv's Western backers meet
[April 11, 2025]
By LORNE COOK
BRUSSELS (AP) — Britain on Friday announced a “surge” of military
support to Ukraine, as the war-ravaged country’s Western backers
gathered to drum up more weapons and ammunition to fight off Russia's
invasion and a U.S. envoy flew to Moscow amid ongoing ceasefire efforts.
Britain said that in a joint effort with Norway just over $580 million
would be spent to provide hundreds of thousands of military drones,
radar systems and anti-tank mines, as well as repair and maintenance
contracts to keep Ukrainian armored vehicles on the battlefield.
On the eve of the meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Ukrainian
Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said a key issue was strengthening his
country’s air defenses. “Ukraine needs a sufficient number of modern
systems like Patriot” missile systems, he said in a post on social
media.
“A political decision is needed to supply these systems to protect our
cities, towns, and the lives of our people — especially from the threat
of Russian ballistic weapons. Our partners have such available systems,”
Umerov said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has renewed his appeals for more Patriot
systems since 20 people were killed a week ago, including nine children,
when a Russian missile tore through apartment buildings and blasted a
playground in his home town.
“Ukraine needs at the very least 10 systems that are sufficiently
effective specifically against Russian ballistic missiles, and this is
where Patriots are second to none,” he said on his Telegram channel
ahead of the meeting. "We are counting on decisions.”
Zelenskyy joined Friday's meeting by video link.
Russia holds off agreeing to ceasefire
Russian forces hold the advantage in Ukraine, with the war now in its
fourth year. Ukraine has endorsed a U.S. ceasefire proposal, but Russia
has effectively blocked it by imposing far-reaching conditions.
The Russian delay in accepting Washington's proposal has frustrated U.S.
President Donald Trump and fueled doubts about whether Russian President
Vladimir Putin really wants to stop the fighting while his bigger army
has momentum on the battlefield.
“Russia continues to use bilateral talks with the United States to delay
negotiations about the war in Ukraine, suggesting that the Kremlin
remains uninterested in serious peace negotiations to end the war,” the
Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said in an
assessment late Thursday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff
was back in Moscow on Friday but he didn’t confirm whether he will meet
with Putin. Witkoff has been pressing the Kremlin to accept a truce.
Washington remains committed to securing a peace deal, even though four
weeks have passed since it made its ceasefire proposals, State
Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.
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Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey, left, Ukraine's Defense
Minister Rustem Umerov, second from left, and Germany's Defense
Minister Boris Pistorius, right, arrive for a meeting of the Ukraine
Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday,
April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
“It is a dynamic that will not be solved militarily. It is a meat
grinder,” Bruce said Thursday about the war, adding that “nothing
else can be discussed … until the shooting and the killing stops.”
Observers expect a new Russian offensive
Ukrainian officials and military analysts believe Russia is
preparing to launch a fresh military offensive in coming weeks to
ramp up pressure and strengthen the Kremlin’s hand in the
negotiations.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that his country would
provide Ukraine with four IRIS-T short- to medium-range systems with
missiles, as well as 30 missiles for use on Patriot batteries. The
Netherlands plans to supply a Hawkeye air defense system, an
airborne early warning aircraft.
Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said that his country is
monitoring the world armaments market and sees opportunities for
Ukraine’s backers to buy more weapons and ammunition.
Pevkur said he believes Putin might try to reach some kind of
settlement with Ukraine by May 9 — the day that Russia marks victory
during World War II — making it even more vital to strengthen Kyiv’s
position now.
“This is why we need to speed up the deliveries as quickly as we
can,” he said.
Friday’s meeting is the 27th gathering of the Ukraine Defense
Contact Group. It’s being chaired by Britain and Germany. Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth will be absent from a forum that the United
States created and led for several years, although he was due to
take part via video.
Hegseth spent the first part of this week in Panama and returned to
Washington on Wednesday night.
At the last contact group meeting in February, Hegseth warned
Ukraine’s European backers that the U.S. now has priorities
elsewhere — in Asia and on America’s own borders — and that they
would have to take care of their own security, and that of Ukraine,
in future.
Asked about the U.S. stepping back from its leadership role on
Ukraine, Pistorius declined to comment, saying only that “it’s a
decision of the new administration in Washington.”
“We are here to take over the lead,” he told reporters, “and we are
willing and determined to do that with full responsibility and
together with our allies.”
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AP reporter Lolita Baldor in Washington contributed to this story.
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