Top of the list is to keep the money and military support flowing. “I’d turn up with a trebling of European money for Ukraine and I’d go after Russian assets,” one source said. “We need to work out what is the war chest that Ukraine needs to find to fight through 2025 and into 2026 – it’s hard to ask the US taxpayer to foot the bill.”
It’s not surprising there’s a strong feeling in the defence world that increasing defence budgets is part of the answer. The head of the military, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, who visited President Zelensky this week, told us a fortnight ago that spending had to go up.
But with money tight, and the government reluctant even to set a date on hitting its target of spending 2.5% of GDP on defence, there is little chance of sudden injections of extra billions.
Government sources emphasise long-term commitments the UK has already made, particularly supporting Ukraine with drones.
Intelligence we can reveal this weekend shows Ukraine used drones in mid and late September to hit four Russian ammunition depots, hundreds of miles from Ukraine. The attacks are understood to have successfully destroyed the biggest amount of Russian and North Korean supplied ammunition during the conflict so far. It hasn’t been confirmed whether these drones were provided by the UK or others.
They also highlighted a treaty signed between the UK and Ukraine in July to help the country arm itself in the long term.