Ukraine

Gurinder Singh Josan Excerpts

Monday 2nd September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Anneliese Dodds]

I am very grateful to the right hon. Member for making that incredibly important point. Just about every Member of the House will have had the privilege and honour of meeting Ukrainians who have moved to their constituency—sadly, not through choice but through necessity. They have enriched our communities, and they are indeed supporting those back at home. It really is important that the Government continue to work with them so that we get an accurate picture of what is taking place, but also so that we can ensure that we play our part in supporting Ukraine in its self-defence against Putin’s aggression.

[Gurinder Josan (Smethwick) (Lab)]

This House should commend the brave Ukrainian forces for the undoubted success of their incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, but we can see that they remain under significant stress across the whole region. What military support have the UK Government provided to the Ukrainian armed forces since the general election, and what commitment do we have in place going forward?

[Anneliese Dodds]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that important question. I want to be very clear that we are stepping up our military support, for the reasons that he mentions. That includes the new package that the Defence Secretary announced in Odesa—I think it was on his second day in the job. It includes more artillery guns, a quarter of a million ammunition rounds and 90 precision Brimstone missiles. We are also speeding up that support: on 7 July the Defence Secretary announced that we would ensure that the package of military aid that was promised in April under the previous Government, which includes air defence missiles, would be delivered in full to Ukraine within the next 100 days.