Ukraine's military to get biggest-ever shipment of UK drones

The UK is providing 120,000 drones to Ukraine in what the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said is the largest delivery of its kind.

Drones have increasingly come to dominate both sides of the war in Ukraine, which entered its fifth year in February.

Defence Secretary John Healey said "with eyes on the Middle East in recent weeks, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin wants us to be distracted", as he announced the "big boost" ahead of co-chairing a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Berlin later on Wednesday.

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine had captured a Russian position using ground-based and aerial drones alone for the first time.

The UK drones announcement follows Zelensky's suggestion that US peace negotiators "have no time for Ukraine" because of the war with Iran, AFP reports.

The package will include long-range strike drones, reconnaissance drones, logistics drones and those with maritime capabilities, with many produced by UK-based companies.

Delivery of the "cutting-edge battlefield technology" started this month, the MoD said.

"Ukrainians continue to fight with huge courage and nothing will distract us from continuing to stand with them for as long as it takes to secure peace," Healey said in a statement.

He is set to co-chair a meeting of the 50-nation Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Berlin later alongside Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte and the Ukrainian and German defence ministers.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is also expected to announce further support measures for Ukraine later at a meeting of international finance ministers in Washington DC.

This will consist of a £752m payment to Kyiv, which is part of a wider £3.36bn loan.

"This funding will help deliver the military equipment Ukraine needs as it defends itself against Russia's unprovoked war," Reeves said.

There have been further Russian attacks on Ukraine, after the expiry at the end of Sunday of a supposed ceasefire to mark Orthodox Easter.

Overnight, Ukraine's northern Sumy region saw three separate strikes on an industrial zone of the city including while rescuers worked there, the country's emergency services said.

In Cherkasky, an eight-year-old boy was killed, and 14 more people injured as a result of overnight attacks, according to Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Reports this morning also suggested that a 74-year old woman died after a bus stop was hit by a drone in Zaporizhzhia, southeastern Ukraine.

And in the neighbouring city of Dnipro, three people were injured as Russian drones damaged a government building and an apartment block.

Russian strikes also hit the south of Odesa, causing fires in the vicinity of its port.

There have been several rounds of peace talks, with the US acting as a mediator, but the process has been on hold since Donald Trump shifted his focus to the Middle East.

What Kyiv wants – and has proposed, repeatedly – is a full, stable ceasefire as a first step towards negotiating a lasting end to Russia's invasion.

But Moscow insists on agreeing the peace deal first, prompting accusations from Kyiv that Russia is not serious about ending the fighting.

A truce agreement between Russia and Ukraine to halt the fighting for Orthodox Easter was soon followed by accusations of violations on both sides.

The Ukrainian military said on Sunday morning that Russian forces had committed 2,299 violations since the truce began at 16:00 local time (13:00 GMT) on Saturday - including shooting four unarmed soldiers.

The Russian defence ministry, in turn, said Ukrainian forces had committed 1,971 violations, including three attempted counter-attacks in Dnipropetrovsk region.