A British-led £520m international fund to provide fresh weapons for Ukraine and intended to be “low bureaucracy” has been plagued by delays, with only £200m allocated amid warnings that the rest of the funding will not provide arms at “the front until the summer”. Bidders complain that the process, run by the UK’s Ministry of Defence, working with six other European countries, has been frustrating with deadlines missed – and the MoD conceded that awarding contracts “inevitably took time”. Launched last August, the International Fund for Ukraine was intended to be “a flexible low-bureaucracy fund” that would provide new kit, training and money for repairs for Ukraine’s armed forces as Kyiv battles the Russian invasion. It was intended to be an extra way of providing military aid to Ukraine, on top of direct donations by western governments, but the delays demonstrate the challenge of ensuring military aid flows in line with politicians’ ambition. The UK contributed £250m and several other European countries enthusiastically followed suit, including the Netherlands with €100m (£89m), as well as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania and Iceland, taking the total pledged to more than £500m. Bidders were told they would be informed by the MoD whether their bids had succeeded “from 14 December”, and Ben Wallace, the UK defence secretary, said a day later that a decision would be made imminently.
In fact, a day later, an email went out from the MoD telling bidders they had to wait until February. No announcement about any allocation was made until 15 February, two months after the initial date. Interest had been high, and “over 1,500” suppliers were understood to have submitted bids with a total value of £27bn. The level of offers overwhelmed the fund’s secretariat, some bidders said. One supplier said it was staffed by only two people. However, British defence sources said there was a larger team working on assessing the bids, but acknowledged the high level of interest was a complicating factor in a process designed to urgently source munitions for Ukraine. When a public announcement was finally made by Wallace on 15 February, he said about £200m from the fund would be spent in the first instance, and that a further round would follow in due course. “With an expected value of more than £200m, the first package will include vital capabilities in the form of artillery ammunition, maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and spare parts for equipment, including Ukraine’s current tanks,” he said at the time. Some bidders, however, were not told whether they had succeeded at that point. Complaints of “zero communication” followed, before finally, five days later, an email went out notifying applicants if their bids were being taken forward. Participants now fear a second round of bids could be equally lengthy, given its scope has “not yet been determined” by the fund. One said they believed the delays meant the next round of military aid for Ukraine would “not hit the front until the summer”. A British defence source said they wanted to ensure that the fund was properly managed in a way that helped Ukraine, and that it was not intended to be a traditional competitive bidding process. “Officials were engaged globally to explore what products were available. Submissions have amounted to £27bn of available equipment. Ensuring the first round was successful meant we refined the possible purchases from the fund. This inevitably took time,” the source said.