After Rome, Berlin and Paris, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to London on Monday where the British Prime Minister promised him deliveries of missiles and drones. Since the beginning of the war, London has been at the forefront in terms of military aid.
The United Kingdom’s military support for Ukraine, reaffirmed on Monday May 15 by Rishi Sunak’s promise to send “hundreds” of aerial missiles and attack drones, is not new or even recent. last year. The British, alongside Americans and Canadians, were already actively participating in Ukraine’s military training programs before Moscow launched its offensive in February 2022.
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London therefore found itself very quickly delivering to the Ukrainians the armaments on which they had trained them, in particular anti-tank weapons, such as the American-made Javelin missile, or NLAW, of British manufacture. Quickly, from March 2022, London also provided the Ukrainian army with short-range anti-aircraft weapons: Starstreak missiles. And then there were guns, about fifty – multiple rocket launchers, armored infantry fighting vehicles, coastal defense missiles, heavy Challenger tanks.
The United Kingdom stands side by side with Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/rdgqvLuSe6
—Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) May 15, 2023
The latest British delivery to date contained Storm Shadow air-to-surface cruise missiles, an early example of which may have been used to bomb a Russian ammunition depot near Luhansk this weekend, more than 150 km to the rear of the Russian positions.
The European machine, a little slow on ignition
The other European countries thus found themselves, at first, “in tow” of the British. We have to realize that in the spring of 2022, the Europeans are still entangled in unclear postures vis-à-vis Russia. Germany is still struggling to do without Russian gas, France believes in a possible discussion with the master of the Kremlin, when others – the Scandinavian countries for example – must ignore their own legislation regulating very drastically any export of gas. weapons, particularly in the direction of countries at war.
With President Zelensky this evening, we took stock of Ukraine’s operational needs to deal with Russian aggression.
As long as necessary, France will continue to provide political, financial, humanitarian and military support…
—Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 14, 2023
But the European machine, admittedly a little slow to start, has since gone into overdrive: in February 2023, a year after the start of the Russian offensive, the European Union as an institution and the countries of the Union, individually, provided Ukraine with the equivalent of 62 billion euros in military and financial aid. An envelope similar to that of the United States which, with 71 billion euros, remains kyiv’s first ally.
But the British are still very present. Like the other Europeans or the Americans, they have not yet offered combat planes to the Ukrainians, but already aerial armament: the Storm Shadow missiles. And then they offered pilot training sessions for western fighter planes. It is not yet known whether these formations have already started, but they signal, without too much ambiguity, that deliveries of combat aircraft should follow.