DEFENCE Secretary Wes Streeting was branded “delusional” after saying Moscow must understand that Britain “won’t flinch” in its support to Ukraine.

The minister made the claims after he co-chaired his first meeting of a group of allies providing military kit to Kiev following an announcement that Britain has committed £100 million to boost Ukraine’s air defences over winter.

Stop the War Coalition’s Lindsey German said: “The reality is that the conflict has now gone on for longer than the first world war and is not being won by either side, whatever the delusional defence secretary thinks.

“The danger of current wars linking up into a third world war is all too real.”

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament general secretary Sophie Bolt added: “Burnham’s government is spending another £100m of public funds on more US weaponry to be sent to Ukraine. But what the Ukrainian people need this winter is a ceasefire, not more US patriot missiles.  

“This weaponry is only intensifying the deadly conflict and resulting in even greater levels of civilian casualties. Burnham and Streeting need to end the war-mongering rhetoric and focus urgently on political and diplomatic solutions to this conflict.”

The Peace Pledge Union’s Anna Kharbanda said: “While we condemn Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, investing millions in air  defences while calling for a ceasefire won’t end the conflict.

“As we said when the invasion began, it’s unlikely to be defeated militarily. Four years on and that still stands.

“While diplomacy stalls, the death toll risks rising further. The UN reported that 2025 was the deadliest year on record for civilian since the invasion began. Pouring money into warfare will not bring us any closer to peace.”

Mr Streeting, who co-chaired the virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group of some 50 nations with his German counterpart Boris Pistorius, said that he had seen the consequences of Russian aggression and the Ukrainian people’s “resilience and strength” first-hand during a visit to Ukraine.

“In that spirit, I think we owe it to them to make sure we are giving them every bit of support we can to see through what is inevitably a challenging winter,” he said.

The £100m will go to supplying defence interceptors, large-calibre artillery rounds and drones supplied to Ukraine through the contribution to Nato’s prioritised Ukraine requirements list (Purl).

Mr Streeting said that Britain is also making “strong progress” towards providing 120,000 drones to Ukraine this year, with 25,000 delivered so far, and thousands more expected before winter.

It is also continuing to send large-calibre artillery ammunition to Ukraine, with the millionth round delivered in July, he said.

Britain recently agreed to declassify blueprints for British-made components for the Scalp missile, a French-produced version of the Storm Shadow, which has already been used to hit targets in Russia.