British, Ukrainian defence ministers discuss country’s accession to NATO

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has met his British counterpart Ben Wallace in Kyiv.

"Of course, we discussed Ukraine's NATO perspective in the context of the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius. Including Ukraine's vision to stabilise peace in Europe, using the peace formula of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy," European Pravda quotes Reznikov as saying.

According to the Ukrainian Defence Ministry’s press service, during the meeting, they discussed Ukraine's weapons priorities to achieve victory, especially long-range weapons such as Storm Shadow missiles.

Wallace noted that Storm Shadow was the first weapon of its type to be provided to Ukraine by its partners.

"We have provided this type of weaponry because of Russia's continued use of its long-range weapons, which it uses to harm civilians and civilian critical infrastructure," Wallace said.

Reznikov thanked Britain and Wallace’s team for supporting Ukraine from day one of the large-scale invasion and for taking an absolutely unwavering and resolute stance on supporting Kyiv.

As the second largest donor, the UK has committed £4.6 billion in military assistance to Ukraine so far (£2.3 billion in 2022 and a commitment to match that funding in 2023).

The UK is also hosting a training programme (Operation Interflex), which is supported by several allies, with the aim of training 30,000 new and existing Ukrainian personnel by the end of 2023.

The UK has recently committed to training Ukrainian fast jet pilots but has said that combat fighter aircraft will not be provided, at least in the short term. The UK is providing long-range precision strike missiles.