04 June 2025 8:11am
Britain will supply 100,000 drones to Ukraine by April 2026, as part of a £4.5 billion support plan for Kyiv.
The significant delivery pledge represents a tenfold increase on the number of drones given to Ukraine last year.
Defence Secretary John Healey will make the announcement at a 50-nation Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting in Brussels today.
The £350 million drone package is part of a broader £4.5 billion military support initiative for Ukraine, the government said.
In addition to drones, Britain said it had also already shipped 140,000 artillery shells to Ukraine since January and will spend a further £247 million this year training Ukrainian troops.
As part of the Strategic Defence Review, published on Monday, the government announced more than £4bn for autonomous systems and drones for the UK Armed Forces, to help learn the lessons from Ukraine.
Russia says no quick breakthrough in ‘complex’ Ukraine talks
Russia has said there will be no quick breakthrough in Ukraine talks, a Kremlin spokesperson said on Tuesday.
“The settlement issue is extremely complex and involves a large number of nuances,” said Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesperson.
“It would be wrong to expect immediate solutions and breakthroughs,” he added.
It comes after Moscow rejected Kyiv’s call for an unconditional ceasefire at negotiations in Istanbul.
Both sides agreed on a large-scale prisoner swap and exchanged their peace plans at the talks, which lasted two hours.
Sumy city under threat as Russian forces advance, Ukraine says
Russian forces have captured another village in Ukraine northern Sumy region, it said on Tuesday.
The advance towards the city of Sumy comes as Kyiv showed its ability to continue fighting by conducting a series of strikes in recent days, hitting Russian strategic bombers and the Crimean Bridge.
Russian and Ukrainian delegations met in Turkey for peace talks on Monday where Moscow said it would only agree to end the war if Kyiv cedes big new chunks of territory and accepts limits on the size of its army.
Russia uses explosive laced animal corpse for drone drop
Russian forces are dropping wild animal corpses stuffed with explosives, according to reports.
Images showed a soldier holding a dead rabbit strapped to a drone in what appeared to be a military bunker.
The church is the centre of life in a civilized village of normal people.
The vile putinaZis know that of course.
Ukraine’s friends, or so-called friends, really need to help Ukraine to ensure that not one more city or even town falls into the hands of filthy putinaZi occupiers.