Britain to substantially increase drone deliveries to Ukraine

LONDON, June 4 (Xinhua) -- The British Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday that Britain will ramp up its drone supply to Ukraine, raising the target from 10,000 in 2024 to 100,000 in 2025, marking a record investment of 350 million pounds (473.61 million U.S. dollars).

The ministry stated in a statement that this initiative is part of Britain's 4.5-billion-pound military support package to Ukraine for this year.

At a NATO meeting in Brussels with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, British Defense Secretary John Healey will announce an additional 247 million pounds in funding for training the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This includes training Ukrainian recruits on British soil and supporting Operation Interflex, which has provided basic combat training to over 55,000 Ukrainian recruits since 2022.

Healey will also confirm the successful delivery of 140,000 artillery munitions to Ukraine by Britain since the start of 2025.

The Ukrainian and Russian delegations made modest but concrete progress in renewed peace talks in Istanbul on Monday.

Russia believes that arms supplies to Ukraine hinder the settlement of the conflict. The Kremlin stated that the West's provision of weapons to Ukraine does not contribute to the negotiations and will have a negative effect.