Belfast Ukraine deal: 5,000 missiles to be built in city as UK inks £1.6bn agreement in conflict
Belfast is to help defend Ukraine with a £1.6bn deal to build 5,000 missiles in the city.
Announced by UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer today (2nd), the deal comes after a summit with European leaders over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sir Keir Starmer said Ukraine will be allowed to use £1.6bn of export finance to buy more than 5,000 air defence missiles.
The Prime Minister told a press conference that the missiles “will be made in Belfast, creating jobs in our brilliant defence sector”.
He added: “This will be vital for protecting critical infrastructure now and strengthen Ukraine in securing the peace when it comes, because we have to learn from the mistakes of the past”.
Full details of the deal haven’t yet been made public, but they came as European leaders sought to bolster their support for Ukraine.
Sunday’s summit in London saw the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, say that in coming days she will present a plan to “rearm” Europe.
She said “we have to put Ukraine in a position of strength” so that “it has the means to fortify and protect itself” in economic and military terms.
The summit came just days after a very public bust-up between Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump, which saw Mr Trump widely criticised by leading politicians in the UK and Europe.
Sir Keir stated that efforts to end the conflict between Ukraine and Russia need to have “strong US backing” to work.
“We’re working with the US on this point after my meeting with President Trump last week,” he said after the summit. “Let me be clear, we agree with the President on the urgent need for a durable peace, now we need to deliver together.
“We agreed that leaders will meet again very soon, to keep the pace behind these actions and to keep working towards this shared plan.
“We are at a crossroads in history today. This is not a moment for more talk. It’s time to act. Time to step up and lead and to unite around a new plan for a just and enduring peace."
The Prime Minister said he wants to create a “coalition of the willing” over Ukraine, but dismissed questions over the possibility of the UK going to war with Russia.
“The reason I’ve been forward-leaning on this is because I want to avoid conflict, because I do not want conflict in Ukraine, in Europe,” he said. “I want stability in the United Kingdom.
“The way to ensure that stability is to ensure that we are able to defend a deal in Ukraine, because the one thing our history tells us is that if there is conflict in Europe, it will wash up on our shores.
“Already, in the last three years, what’s happened in Ukraine has had a massive impact on many working people back here in the United Kingdom because their bills have gone up, their energy bills have gone up. There’s been an instability in our economy caused by that conflict, so we are not unaffected.”