The Guardian: Britain has been able to spend less than half of its Ukraine support fund

The Guardian reports that London has been able to spend only less than half of the 900 million pounds that various countries have contributed to the Ukraine support fund.

The reason for this slow spending is bureaucratic delays, the newspaper said.

British ministers acknowledge that due to the slow operation of the scheme, some of the equipment purchased with the fund will not reach Ukraine until next spring, the authors report.

According to officials at the British Ministry of Defence, the delays are due to the need to evaluate the bids of many companies that are bidding for the supply of equipment to Ukraine.

According to The Guardian, the British government provided the majority of the fund (500 million pounds), Denmark contributed 144 million pounds, Iceland – 3 million, Lithuania – 5 million, the Netherlands – 110 million, Norway – 119 million, Sweden – 26 million, Australia – 25 million, and New Zealand – 4 million.

The fund, established in August 2022, is managed by the UK government. Its task is to finance the training of the Ukrainian military and the supply of weapons to the Armed Forces.

In response to the opposition's accusations of slow and inefficient work, a spokesperson for the British Ministry of Defence said that the British fund is "the largest of its kind and it regularly delivers weapons to meet Ukraine's most urgent needs, including air defence systems, drones and demining equipment".

As the British defence ministry explains, thousands of different companies take part in the tenders, and each of their bids must be evaluated.

"We will make no apologies for doing this in accordance with all procedures and in a way that provides the most effective assistance to Ukraine," said a Ministry spokesperson.

Background. It also became known that the UK has allocated more than $180 million to strengthen the Ukrainian energy sector.