UK to provide Ukraine with ‘hundreds of attack drones’ with range over 200km, flying training for Ukrainian pilots

The UK Government has stated that the new military aid package for Ukraine will include hundreds of new long-range attack drones with a range of over 200km. “These will all be delivered over the coming months as Ukraine prepares to intensify its resistance to the ongoing Russian invasion,” the statement says.

The UK gas also announced “an elementary flying phase for cohorts of Ukrainian pilots to learn basic training,” scheduled for this summer. This will adapt the programme used by UK pilots to provide Ukrainians with piloting skills they can apply to a different kind of aircraft.

“This training goes hand in hand with UK efforts to work with other countries on providing F16 jets — Ukraine’s fighter jets of choice,” reads the statement.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Great Britain. “Today — London. The UK is a leader when it comes to expanding our capabilities on the ground and in the air. This cooperation will continue today. I will meet my friend Rishi [Sunak, the UK PM]. We will conduct substantive negotiations face-to-face and in delegations,” he wrote on Twitter.

Earlier on, the UK supplied Storm Shadow, long-range air-launched cruise missiles, to Ukraine ahead of schedule. A source told CNN that this projectile “a real game changer from a range perspective”. According to the TV channel, the maximum range of the missiles that were previously exported to Ukraine stands at 80 km.

Zelensky recently visited France, Germany, Italy, and Finland. He had a meeting with Sauli Niinistö, the Finnish President, as well as Petteri Orpo, the speaker of the Finnish parliament, and participated in the Ukraine — Northern Europe summit.

Ukraine’s President also visited the Hague in the Netherlands, where he proposed to create a full-fledged tribunal court on the war crimes Russia had committed in Ukraine.