Britain announces a surge of Ukraine support at meeting of allies

BRUSSELS (AP) — Britain on Friday announced a “surge” of military support to Ukraine, as the war-ravaged country’s Western backers gathered at NATO headquarters to drum up more weapons and ammunition to help fight off the Russian invasion.

Britain said that in a joint effort with Norway just over $580 million would be spent to provide hundreds of thousands of military drones, radar systems and anti-tank mines, as well as repair and maintenance contracts to keep Ukrainian armored vehicles on the battlefield.

On the eve of the meeting in Brussels, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said a key issue was strengthening his country’s air defenses. “Ukraine needs a sufficient number of modern systems like Patriot” missile systems, he said in a post on social media.

“A political decision is needed to supply these systems to protect our cities, towns, and the lives of our people — especially from the threat of Russian ballistic weapons. Our partners have such available systems,” Umerov said.

Russian forces hold the advantage in Ukraine, with the war now in its fourth year. Ukrainian officials and military analysts believe Russia is preparing to launch a fresh military offensive in coming weeks to ramp up pressure and strengthen the Kremlin’s hand in ceasefire talks.

Friday’s meeting is the 27th gathering of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. It’s being chaired by Britain and Germany.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will be absent from a forum that the United States created and led for several years, although he was due to take part via video.

Hegseth spent the first part of this week in Panama and returned to Washington on Wednesday night.

布鲁塞尔（美联社）——英国周五宣布“加大”对乌克兰的军事支持力度，与此同时，这个饱受战争蹂躏的国家的西方支持者聚集在北约总部，筹集更多武器弹药，以帮助抵御俄罗斯的入侵。

英国表示，将与挪威共同出资超过 5.8 亿美元，提供数十万架军用无人机、雷达系统和反坦克地雷，以及维修和维护合同，以确保乌克兰装甲车辆能够继续在战场上发挥作用。

在布鲁塞尔会议召开前夕，乌克兰国防部长鲁斯捷姆·乌梅罗夫表示，加强该国的防空能力是关键议题。他在社交媒体上发帖称：“乌克兰需要足够数量的现代化系统，例如‘爱国者’导弹系统。”

乌梅罗夫说：“我们需要做出政治决定，提供这些系统来保护我们的城市、城镇和人民的生命安全——特别是免受俄罗斯弹道武器的威胁。我们的合作伙伴拥有这些现成的系统。”

俄军在乌克兰占据优势，这场战争已进入第四年。乌克兰官员和军事分析人士认为，俄罗斯正准备在未来几周内发动新一轮军事攻势，以加大施压力度，增强克里姆林宫在停火谈判中的筹码。

周五的会议是乌克兰防务联络小组的第27次会议，由英国和德国共同主持。

美国国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯将缺席美国创建并主导多年的论坛，尽管他原本计划通过视频参加。

赫格塞斯本周前半段在巴拿马，周三晚上返回华盛顿。