Ukraine receives drones from UK’s biggest ever package, Russia says Europe escalating conflict

Kyiv: Ukraine has started receiving drones from the biggest ever drone package announced by Britain, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry said.

“We are grateful to the UK for the largest ever batch of drones for Ukraine… They have already begun arriving and are strengthening our front line,” the ministry said in a statement on Telegram on Wednesday (local time).

This year, Ukraine is expecting to get a total of 120,000 drones as part of the package, including strike, reconnaissance, logistics, and maritime models, the statement said.

Earlier in the day, Britain pledged to deliver at least 120,000 drones to Ukraine this year under the new package, reports Xinhua news agency.

The initiative is backed by Britain’s wider 3-billion-pound (about 4.07 billion US dollars) military support for Ukraine this year, as well as the Group of Seven Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration for Ukraine initiative.

Earlier, the Russian Defence Ministry said that actions by European governments to host and expand production of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for Ukraine are “drawing the continent deeper into the conflict with Russia”.

“Instead of strengthening the security of European states, the actions of European leaders are increasingly pulling these countries into war with Russia,” the ministry said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel.

It added that a number of European countries decided on March 26 to scale up the production and supply of UAVs to Ukraine “amid mounting losses and a worsening shortage of manpower in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.” The increase in output is expected to be supported by expanded funding for Ukrainian and joint enterprises producing strike drones and their components on European soil.

The ministry said that branches of companies described as Ukrainian UAV manufacturers are operating in eight European countries, adding that some of these enterprises are involved in producing strike UAVs, including loitering munitions.

IANS