Streeting calls for more air defence missiles for Ukraine

Wes Streeting has urged allies to boost Ukraine’s air defences ahead of a winter that Vladimir Putin will seek to use as a “weapon” against Kyiv.

The Defence Secretary visited Ukraine last week to discuss preparations for the winter, a season where in previous years Moscow has targeted the country’s energy infrastructure in a bid to freeze it into submission.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Mr Streeting said: “Winter in Ukraine is no longer a season. It is a weapon.”

Arguing that while Mr Putin was currently losing the war, now in its fifth year, he warned that “Ukrainians know what winter brings, and how it can change the picture”.

He said: “I return from Kyiv with a clear understanding of what Ukraine needs to weather this winter.

“Where the UK can provide that resource, we will. And where we cannot, it is my job to mobilise allies to find that capability.

“My task — alongside my German counterpart Boris Pistorius, with whom I co-chair the Ukraine Defence Contact Group — is to turn the goodwill of some 50 nations into concrete help; to convert commitment into capability.

“That must include greater resources for air defence.”

The Ukraine Defence Contact Group, which brings together Kyiv’s allies, is expected to hold its next meeting in September, with air defence supplies likely to be high on the agenda.

Mr Streeting’s visit to Ukraine last week coincided with warnings that the country is running short of vital air defences, particularly the US-made Patriot system, the only weapon it has that can shoot down Russia’s ballistic missiles.

Mr Zelensky has pleaded with allies in recent weeks to provide more interceptor missiles as continual Russian bombardment uses up Ukraine’s limited stocks.

As Mr Streeting travelled to Ukraine on August 5, the country suffered one of its deadliest nights of Russian missile strikes, with 17 people killed and at least 44 wounded in Kyiv and the surrounding region.

Following the strikes, Mr Zelensky said: “Ballistic missile interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed today.

“It is very important that our partners understand that delays in supplying them, or an unwillingness to provide anti-ballistic systems, lead directly to such horrific casualties and destruction.”

Supplies of interceptors from other nations to Ukraine have fallen threefold this year, with global stocks diverted to the Middle East following the start of Donald Trump’s war with Iran at the end of February.