Ukraine conflict: ‘Large amount' of latest support funding to be spent inside Ukraine

A fibre-optic-controlled first-person view UAV being tested during an event announced by Ukraine's Brave1 on 1 April 2025. (Brave1)

A “large amount” of the GBP450 million (USD594 million) military support package for Ukraine announced by the United Kingdom will be spent by Ukraine to speed up deliveries and support the country's domestic defence industry, a defence source confirmed to Janes on 11 April.

The UK is contributing GBP350 million of the GBP450 million package, with extra funding from Norway via the UK-led International Fund for Ukraine. It includes money for the delivery of “relatively cheap FPV [first-person view] drones and dropper drones”, according to the defence source.

The support package was announced by UK Secretary of State for Defence John Healey at the 27th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (also known as the Ramstein Group) of 57 countries on 11 April.

Within the funding, a GBP250 million ‘close fight' package will include radar systems, anti-tank mines, and hundreds of thousands of UAVs, said the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). The UAV funding contribution “would be considered as falling under the umbrella of the UK-Latvia drone coalition”, the defence source added. Oslo officially joined the drone coalition on 11 April. The UAV coalition was established on 14 February 2024 to enhance Ukraine's unmanned systems capabilities.