BRUSSELS, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Britain announced a 575-million-pound (782 million U.S. dollars) package for urgent air defense support to Ukraine on Thursday during the NATO defense ministers' meeting in Brussels.
British Defense Secretary John Healey announced the new aid while delivering public remarks at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), adding that 150 million pounds of the total will be allocated for air defense interceptors in the "Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List" (PURL) program, a NATO program for U.S. arms procurement, and 400 million pounds will be used for lightweight multirole missiles.
In addition, Britain will provide an extra 1,200 air defense missiles together with its partners from the air defense consortium.
He also said that in 2025, the UDCG collectively raised 45 billion U.S. dollars in military aid for Ukraine, and for 2026, they "must do more and push harder."
NATO defense ministers held a meeting here on Thursday to discuss issues including strengthening collective security in the Arctic and supporting Ukraine. (1 pound = 1.36 U.S. dollars) ■