British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is preparing to officially sign the United Kingdom's accession to the European Union's large-scale defense loan scheme for Ukraine.
As reported by the authoritative British newspaper The Times, citing sources from Downing Street, the move is part of the new British Prime Minister's strategy for a fundamental "restart" of relations between London and Brussels in the field of security and foreign policy.
The EU scheme, which was finalized earlier and is worth 90 billion euros for the period 2026-2027, aims to cover Kiev's critical needs in the field of defense and the state budget. Negotiations on British participation were launched earlier this year between Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Under the agreement reached, Britain will make a direct financial contribution to the EU budget to cover part of the cost of servicing the loan. In return, Brussels has agreed to a key concession: the British military industry will be fully included in the program. This means that Ukraine will be able to purchase weapons and ammunition directly from British manufacturers, financed with EU funds. Without this agreement, third parties outside the EU can receive a maximum of 35% of the value of contracts without special approval.
The official details of the pact will be announced on Monday in Paris, where a meeting of the so-called “coalition of the willing“ – diplomatic format led by the United Kingdom and France, dedicated to long-term security guarantees for Ukraine.
A symbolic sign of the warming of relations is the fact that Keir Starmer will remain in the French capital at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron to attend as an official guest at the Bastille Day celebrations on July 14. Analysts identify foreign policy as one of Starmer's greatest successes since the beginning of his government.