The UK Defence Procurement and Industry Minister, Maria Eagle, met with her Ukrainian counterparts and UK defence industry leaders in Ukraine on 6 August 2024, to start negotiating contracts under the Defence Export Support Treaty.

While there, Eagle toured British industrial sites in Ukraine alongside the country’s Deputy Minister of Strategic Industries for European Integration, Serhiy Boyev, and the National Armaments Director, Oleksandr Serhii, to witness how the UK is currently enhancing Ukraine’s industrial capacity.

Signed on 19 July, during the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to London, the Treaty will allow Kyiv to draw on £3.5bn ($4.44bn) of export finance to acquire military equipment from UK defence companies.

“This will reduce the burden on the [Ukrainian] budget and allow, in the short-term, to obtain the necessary weapons for the defence of our state, first of all, in the field of air defence,” outlined the Minister of Defence for Ukraine Rustem Umerov.

UK finances are struggling

At the time, the UK’s Business and Trade Secretary Jonathon Reynolds contended: “We cannot have economic growth at home, without security and stability abroad.”

Since then, however, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves summarised the deterioration of Britain’s public finances in a speech to Parliament on 29 July.

Citing an audit that began when the Labour Party came to government, Reeves claimed that the former Conservative administration accrued a projected overspend of £22bn, which she added included unfunded military aid to Ukraine. This was a decision, Reeves confirmed, the new Labour government would not implement themselves going forward.

In the same breath, the Chancellor continued to describe how the government will balance the books, adding that it will involve departmental cuts among other counter-measures.

Ukrainian military requirements

In meetings over the course of several days after the Defence Export Support Treaty was signed, the leadership of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence listed their near-term requirements to British representatives, emphasising the need for additional air defence systems, shells and long-range weapons.

“Russia continues to use large numbers of missiles and guided aerial bombs,” said Lieutenant General Ivan Havryliuk. “Strengthening the air defence of Ukraine is a priority.

“Every day, more than a hundred guided aerial bombs are dropped by Russian terrorists on the positions of our troops and on the frontline towns and villages.”