Kyiv:

The UK’s new defence minister pledged on Sunday to deliver more artillery guns, ammunition and missiles to Ukraine, stressing London’s ongoing support for Kyiv during a visit to the southern city of Odesa.

John Healey, appointed defence minister Friday by new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, was visiting the port city, a frequent target of Russian missile and drone strikes, on his first international trip.

“There may have been a change in government, but the UK is united for Ukraine,” Healey said, according to a statement published by Britain’s defence ministry.

Healey pledged a new package of assistance including artillery guns, 250,000 rounds of ammunition, de-mining vehicles, small military boats, missiles and other equipment, the defence ministry said.

In Odesa, he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov.

“Our commitment to stand with the Ukrainian people is absolute.”

Traveling to Odesa, Defence Secretary @JohnHealey_MP met with President @ZelenskyyUa to confirm Britain’s steadfast commitment to Ukraine will be reinvigorated by the new UK Government.

https://t.co/8WrIagKcy3pic.twitter.com/XjxMQJqOoh

— Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ) July 7, 2024

I met with the newly appointed Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom. We discussed the implementation of the security agreement and the preparation of a future 100-year cooperation agreement between Ukraine and the UK.

Our defense cooperation enables Ukrainian… pic.twitter.com/IPo3Eqbdio

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 7, 2024

London has been one of Kyiv’s staunchest backers since Russia invaded in February 2022. 

Zelensky posted footage showing Healey laying flowers at a memorial to mark Ukraine’s Navy Day.

He said he had briefed Healey and Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans — who also took up the post last week — on the situation on the battlefield.

In the capital Kyiv over the weekend, the Netherlands’ Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp pledged to begin sending F-16 fighter planes to Ukraine “without delay”.

Britain’s Healey also said a major UK aid package announced in April would be delivered “in full to Ukraine within the next 100 days”.

Kyiv has regularly complained about the late arrival of Western military supplies, which are vital to its outmanned and outgunned forces fighting off the Russian invasion. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Grant Shapps leaves Downing Street after being appointed Defense Secretary in Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s mini-reshuffle, which was prompted by Ben Wallace’s formal resignation, in London on August 31, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on August 31 appointed Grant Shapps as his new Defence Minister in a mini reshuffle following the resignation of Ben Wallace as Defence Secretary for personal reasons.

Mr. Shapps, who was Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary in the Cabinet, has been a strong supporter of Mr. Sunak as Conservative Party leader.

The new post of Defence Secretary marks his fifth ministerial portfolio within a year, having previously served as Transport Secretary and briefly also as Home Secretary.

“I’m honoured to be appointed as Defence Secretary by Rishi Sunak. I’d like to pay tribute to the enormous contribution Ben Wallace has made to U.K. defence & global security over the last four years,” Mr. Shapps, 54, posted on X soon after his meeting with the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street.

Another Mr. Sunak ally and Indian-origin junior minister, Claire Coutinho, is among those in the running to replace Mr. Shapps in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The mini reshuffle was on the cards ever since Mr. Wallace had announced his intention to step down from frontline politics a few weeks ago, a move he made official with his resignation letter to Mr. Sunak on Thursday.

“After much reflection, I have taken the decision to ask that I be allowed to step down. I won my seat in 2005 and after so many years it is time for me to invest in the parts of life that I have neglected, and to explore new opportunities. Thank you for your support and your friendship. You and the government will have my continued support,” reads the letter.

Mr. Wallace, 53, also praises Sunak for his commitment to defence, saying: “The investment you made in defence as chancellor and the continued support you have shown as Prime Minister has been key to enabling the Ministry of Defence to deliver for Britain. I am personally very grateful for your leadership.

“As I finish my tenure, I can reflect that the Ministry of Defence that I leave is now more modern, better funded and more confident than the organisation I took over in 2019.”

He says the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence is “back on the path to being once again world-class with world-class people” and that the country is respected around the world for its Armed Forces, growing “more since the war in Ukraine”.

“I know you agree with me that we must not return to the days where defence was viewed as a discretionary spend by the government and savings were achieved by hollowing out. I genuinely believe that over the next decade, the world will get more insecure and more unstable. We both share the belief that now is the time to invest,” he added.