EUROPEAN countries vowed yesterday to funnel billions of dollars into further military aid for Ukraine.

After chairing a meeting of Ukraine’s Western backers in Brussels, British Defence Secretary John Healey announced new pledges of military aid totalling more than €21 billion (£18.2bn). He said it represented “a record boost in military funding for Ukraine and we are also surging that support to the front-line fight.” He gave no breakdown of that figure.

Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said last week that Ukraine’s backers had provided around $21bn (£16bn) in the first three months of this year. Yesterday, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said more than $26bn (£19.8bn) had been committed.

Ahead of the “contact group” meeting at Nato headquarters, Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said a key issue was strengthening his country’s air defences.

Standing alongside Mr Healey at the end of the meeting, Mr Umerov described it as “productive, effective and efficient,” having produced “one of the largest” packages of assistance Ukraine has received.

Britain said that, in a joint effort with Norway, just over $580 million (£442m) would be spent to provide hundreds of thousands of military drones, radar systems and anti-tank mines, as well as repair and maintenance contracts for armoured vehicles.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff made another visit to Russia, meeting President Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev in St Petersburg, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didn’t confirm whether Mr Witkoff would meet the president himself.

With the war now in its fourth year, Russian forces hold the advantage. Kiev has endorsed a US ceasefire proposal, but Russia has effectively blocked it by imposing far-reaching conditions.

The Russian delay has fuelled doubts about whether Mr Putin really wants to stop the fighting while his bigger army has momentum on the battlefield.