British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was in Riga, Latvia, today for a summit of a formation called the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF). The JEF is made up of the U.K., the Baltic and Nordic states and the Netherlands—10 countries in all. A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s office on Dec. 18 said that Sunak would “call on the group to sustain their strong military support to Ukraine in 2023, and announce a major new artillery package.” After the summit, Sunak “will then travel on to Estonia to meet U.K. troops and sign a new technology partnership with Estonia to bolster digital ties.”
In his speech to the summit today, Sunak laid out three British Imperial objectives for this group to fulfill. The first is “ensuring that we deliver more military aid and that military aid evolves to meet the situation that we are now facing.” He pledged that the U.K., in 2023, would exceed the £2.3 billion in aid to Ukraine that it provided in 2022. Secondly, Sunak ruled out any unilateral call for a ceasefire by Russia is completely meaningless in the current context. “It would be used by Russia to regroup, to reinforce their troops and until they have withdrawn from conquered territory, there can and should be no real negotiation,” he said.
