Britain sent equipment to Ukraine that often had to be disposed of or replaced – FT

Some of the military aid that Britain provided to Ukraine consisted of old equipment that would otherwise have to be written off.

This is reported by the Financial Times, citing the UK National Audit Office.

The country's Ministry of Defence gave priority to military equipment that was “often due for disposal or replacement” because it was considered to have “immediate military value” for Ukraine. In addition, these deliveries to Kiev “reduced waste or costs associated with disposal.”

For example, the report cites 17,000 pairs of army boots that the UK donated in March 2022. The boots were nearing the end of their useful life and would have ended up in the bin if they had not been sold.

The service also cited another example: the book value of 14 Challenger 2 tanks sent in 2023 was just £17 million, compared to the original purchase price of £47 million in the late 1990s.

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One defence official not involved in the audit said: “The war has tested our stockpiles but the good news is that we have cleared out the old kit and can now replace it with new.”

The ministry has also used other “innovative ways of delivering military equipment”, including reverse engineering replacement tracks for Soviet T-72 tanks from examples at a tank museum in Dorset.

In total, the old military equipment removed from UK stockpiles represented a small proportion of the country's aid, with a book value of £171.5 million (more than €202 million) compared with an estimated replacement cost of £2.7 billion (more than €3 billion). Three-quarters of that aid came in the first year of the full-scale invasion.

As the FT points out, other Western allies also provided Kyiv with outdated equipment, including 10 donated vehicles, reportedly worth more than $7 million, that had zero book value.

Prepared by Nina Petrovich