UK to send 120,000 drones to Ukraine in largest package yet
UK Defense Secretary John Healey (photo: Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
The United Kingdom will deliver at least 120,000 drones to Ukraine this year. This is the largest drone package the country has ever provided during a full-scale war, according to a UK Ministry of Defense press release announced by Defense Secretary John Healey.
What is included in the package
Deliveries have already begun this month. The package includes:
- Long-range strike drones;
- Reconnaissance drones;
- Logistics drones;
- Maritime systems.
All of them have already been tested on the front line in Ukraine.
Healey: Putin wants to distract attention
"In the fifth year of Putin's brutal war, the UK is stepping up further and providing the highest ever number of drones for Ukraine this year," said UK Defense Secretary John Healey.
According to him, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine's allies to be distracted by the situation in the Middle East.
"And nothing will distract us from continuing to stand with them (Ukraine - ed.) for as long as it takes to secure peace," he added.
Why this matters
In March 2026, Russia launched about 6,500 one-way attack drones at Ukraine — significantly more than in February. Drones have become a key tool both for Ukrainian counterattacks and for defense against constant strikes.
Most of the funding will go to British companies — Tekever, Windracers, and Malloy Aeronautics. This will create new jobs in the United Kingdom.
What else will Ukraine receive this year
In addition to drones, the United Kingdom confirmed the supply of:
- Hundreds of thousands of artillery shells;
- Thousands of air defense missiles.
The total volume of UK military support in 2026 is 3 billion pounds.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there is a critical shortage of Patriot air defense systems.
"We now have such a shortage, it cannot get worse," he stressed.
Meanwhile, a day earlier, Ukraine and Germany signed an agreement on the exchange of battlefield data. Kyiv will provide partners with unique data from the battlefield to improve artificial intelligence in defense.
Ukraine's Minister of Defense, Mykhailo Fedorov, called this the first project in the world to develop artificial defense intelligence on this scale.
