How much has the UK spent on Ukraine?
The government announced earlier this month it would send £1.3bn in military support to war-torn country
The UK government has been providing a range of economic, humanitarian and defensive military assistance to Ukraine since it was invaded by Russian forces earlier this year.
Boris Johnson has been one of Ukraine’s biggest champions since the invasion began in February, and earlier this month became the first world leader to address the Ukrainian parliament since the start of the conflict.
As the conflict rumbles on, how much has the UK government spent so far on assisting Ukraine?
Military aid
The government announced last week that the UK would provide £1.3bn in military support to Ukraine, including £300m of equipment already promised by Johnson at an earlier date.
The package of military aid, announced before a meeting of G7 leaders, marks the UK’s “highest rate of military spending since the end of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns” and will come from UK reserves after being agreed with the Treasury, reported The Guardian.
Military equipment sent to Ukraine includes “anti-battery radar systems to target Russian artillery, GPS jamming equipment and night-vision devices”, said the paper.
Humanitarian aid
The £1.3bn “comes on top of earlier commitments worth about £1.5bn, which included £400m in humanitarian aid”, said Sky News on 8 May. The Foreign Office has previously said it has given funding to help aid agencies “respond to the deteriorating humanitarian situation” and provide “access to basic necessities and medical supplies such as medicines, syringes, dressings and wound care packs”.
Another recent breakdown of spending from the department showed that the UK has given £33.5m to the UN Ukraine Humanitarian Fund, which provides healthcare, food, and shelter to those affected by the ongoing war in Ukraine, as well as funding services and legal support for women and girls experiencing sexual and gender-based violence.
The UK has given £15m to the International Federation of the Red Cross to fund life-saving assistance, while £15m has been allocated to Unicef to provide protection and support to vulnerable groups including women and children.
Some £10m has gone towards humanitarian organisations in Moldova and other border countries to protect vulnerable people fleeing the conflict and help children access education while they are away from their homes. And £20m has been allocated to assist Ukrainian refugees currently in Poland and to assist the Polish government with providing support and basic services inside Ukraine.
Financial aid
The earlier £1.5bn commitments also included £700m in additional World Bank lending, according to Sky.
In February, the government announced a three-year package of Official Development Assistance, worth £100m, designed to “bolster the most vulnerable parts of the Ukrainian economy and reduce Ukraine’s reliance on gas imports”.
It has also put a cash injection of $100m (£74m) into the Ukrainian government’s budget, to “mitigate financial pressures” caused by the ongoing invasion. The money will go towards supporting “public sector salaries, social protection, and core services”, according to a House of Commons briefing on 22 April on aid given to Ukraine.
