Britain announces new half-a-billion-pound aid package to Ukraine

BRUSSELS, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Britain announced a new half-a-billion-pound (680 million U.S. dollars) package for urgent air defense support to Ukraine on Thursday during a NATO defense ministers' meeting in Brussels.

"Today, I'm announcing a new half-a-billion-pound package of urgent air defense support, which is President Zelensky's top priority," said British Defense Secretary John Healey at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG).

He explained that 150 million pounds of the total will be allocated for air defense interceptors in the "Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List" (PURL) program, a NATO-led U.S. arms-buying scheme, and 400 million pounds will be used for lightweight multirole missiles.

In addition, Britain will provide an extra 1,200 air defense missiles together with its partners from the air defense consortium.

Healey also said that in 2025, the UDCG collectively raised 45 billion U.S. dollars in military aid for Ukraine, and for 2026, they "must do more and push harder."

NATO defense ministers held a meeting here on Thursday to discuss issues including strengthening collective security in the Arctic and supporting Ukraine. (1 pound = 1.36 U.S. dollars)