Defence Secretary John Healey has warned that Russian forces seized more than 550 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory last month, \u201can area greater than the size of Greater Manchester\u201d, as Moscow intensifies pressure along the frontline in its war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Delivering a statement to the House of Commons on 17 July, Healey said the British Government remained committed to Ukraine and outlined new details of UK contributions to the war effort. He also confirmed that plans are now complete for a future \u2018Multinational Force Ukraine\u2019, with the UK and France leading on the establishment of its command structure.<\/p>\n
Despite heavy fighting and continuing Russian advances, Healey stressed that Ukrainian forces were continuing to strike deep into Russian territory, citing the recent \u2018Spider Web\u2019 drone attack. \u201cOne year of meticulous planning, resulting in the damage of 41 long-range bombers\u2014planes which threaten not only Ukraine, but also NATO as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Healey described the losses suffered by Russia as \u201ccatastrophic\u201d, stating that more than a million Russian troops had been killed or wounded since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. \u201cThis year alone, Russia has sustained 240,000 casualties,\u201d he told MPs.<\/p>\n
He also confirmed that in July alone, more than 3,200 one-way drones had been launched at Ukrainian targets, following 5,000 in June and 4,000 in May. \u201cOn 9 July, a week ago today, the largest aerial strike of the war was recorded when Russia launched more than 700 attack drones in a single night,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As part of a renewed Western push to accelerate aid, the UK will commit further funds and equipment through the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG), which Healey will co-chair on Monday alongside German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius.<\/p>\n
\u201cBritain is providing more than \u00a34.5 billion in military aid to Ukraine this year\u2014more than ever before,\u201d he said, adding that two-thirds of the UK\u2019s \u00a32.26 billion \u2018Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration\u2019 pledge had already been disbursed.<\/p>\n
In coordination with Germany, the UK will also provide additional air defence missiles and has delivered nearly 50,000 drones since March. A further \u00a340 million will be given through NATO\u2019s Comprehensive Assistance Package.<\/p>\n
Healey emphasised that NATO planning for post-war Ukraine is also progressing, with over 200 military planners from 30 nations now concluding the first phase of work on future support.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe military command and control structures have now been agreed for a future Multinational Force Ukraine,\u201d he said. This will include a three-star headquarters in Paris, rotating to London after 12 months, and a coordination hub in Kyiv led by a British two-star officer.<\/p>\n
The force will focus on regeneration of Ukrainian land forces, support for air policing, and contributions to Black Sea maritime security. \u201cWhen peace comes, we will be ready,\u201d Healey told the House. \u201cWhen peace comes, we will play our part in securing it for the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Defence Secretary John Healey has warned that Russian forces seized more than 550 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-270310","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114870670052415974","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}