Key occasions
Britain plans to ramp up supply of drones to Ukraine
Dan Sabbagh
Britain mentioned it might ship 100,000 drones to Ukraine within the yr from 1 April, a tenfold improve from the earlier yr, forward of Wednesday’s assembly in Brussels of the 57 nation Ukraine contact group.
It’s a part of a £350m spend on drones by the UK for Ukraine – however whereas the step change in manufacturing is important, the determine continues to be considerably beneath the 4.5m goal that Ukraine has for indigenously manufactured drones in 2025.
The UK mentioned it was supplying one-way assault first particular person view (FPV) drones, easy bombers that may carry out repeat missions, and new wired fibre optic drones which have emerged over the previous six months, all on a regular basis battlefield weapons.
Although it has taken over three years of warfare to get to the 100,000 determine, further increments of provide will assist Ukraine in its wrestle in opposition to Russia. Russia’s personal manufacturing goal is 3m to 4m drones.
Britain additionally mentioned it might spend an additional £247m on coaching Ukrainian troops as a part of Operation Interflex, and that the UK had delivered 140,000 artillery shells up to now in 2025, sufficient to maintain Kyiv for almost a month on estimated utilization charges.
This yr, Ukraine has set it expects to obtain 3m shells from allies in whole, in addition to producing round 2.5m shells and mortars indigenously. That compares favourably with an estimate given in April by Nato’s high army commander, Gen Christopher Cavoli, who mentioned he anticipated Russia to supply 3m shells this yr.
Though the British contribution of fundamental weapons stays a fraction of Ukraine’s whole necessities, by 2025 it is approaching militarily vital ranges at a time, significantly alongside EU allies, elevating the query of whether or not Russia can sustain.
Morning opening: Ukraine Defence Contact Group
Jakub Krupa
A bunch of 57 international locations, together with all members of Nato, serving to Ukraine meets at present in Brussels for the newest spherical of coordination of the right way to finest assist Kyiv in its persevering with battle in opposition to the Russian invasion.
The assembly comes a day after Ukraine detonated a huge underwater blast that “severely damaged” the bottom of pylons holding up the illegally constructed Kerch Bridge, which connects the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula of Ukraine to Russia. The signature venture of Vladimir Putin was hit with the equal of greater than a metric tonne of TNT, mentioned Kyiv’s SBU safety service, write Peter Beaumont and Artem Mazhulin.
However, as Reuters famous, in an indication of how far the US has moved in current months underneath Donald Trump, officers mentioned US protection secretary Pete Hegseth received’t even attend the the Ukraine Defence Contact Group assembly at present – regardless that he’s nonetheless coming for a Nato ministerial tomorrow.
The main focus then shifts to Nato and main European allies, together with Germany and the UK. I’ll regulate this and produce you the important thing strains from their press conferences this afternoon.
I will even convey you key updates from the growing state of affairs within the German metropolis of Cologne, which sees the biggest evacuation for the reason that finish of the second world warfare because it offers with the invention of three wartime bombs within the metropolis centre, and updates on authorities crises within the Netherlands and Poland.
Let’s see what the day brings us.
It’s Wednesday, 4 June 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa right here, and that is Europe Reside.
Good morning.
