United to win: Britain pledges $9.5 mln for Ukraine’s drone purchases

On November 19, the United Kingdom allocated 7.5 million pounds sterling (over 9.5 million dollars) for military assistance to Ukraine within the framework of the drone coalition. These funds will be used to purchase UAVs to meet the needs of Ukraine's armed forces.

The British government website has published the corresponding press release.

"The Government is announcing further military support of £7.5 million of funding for new attack and surveillance drones, which will be invested through the drone coalition led by the UK and Latvia and drawn from the £3bn annual funding pool," the report says.

It is also noted that funds for drones for Ukraine were allocated from the annual funding fund of 3 billion pounds sterling (over 3.8 billion dollars).

At the same time, the British government added that the drone coalition will receive another 16 million pounds sterling (over 20 million dollars).

In particular, the money was allocated by:

• Germany (10 million pounds or 12 million 700 thousand dollars);
• Canada (3 million pounds or 3 million 800 thousand dollars);
• Luxembourg (3 million pounds or 3 million 800 thousand dollars).

Thus, the drone coalition's total fund will amount to 67 million pounds (over 85 million dollars), including 15 million pounds from the United Kingdom (over 19 million dollars).

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It's worth mentioning that on January 18, it was reported that the Drones and Electronic Warfare Coalition had been formed. As of now, the Drones Coalition has 16 partner countries.

Latvia initiated the creation of the Coalition. The initiative was announced during a December 2023 meeting between Latvia's Defense Minister Andris Spruds and Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.

Ukraine has already received thousands of drones as part of the initiative. Using the funds already accumulated by the Coalition for joint procurement (71 million euros), it is expected that from 20,000 to 30,000 more drones will be purchased and delivered.