Ukrainian MP Urges UK To Maintain "Balance" Between Defence And Aid Spending

Oleksandr Vasiuk is the head of the Ukraine-US Strategic Partnership (Oleksandr Vasiuk)

7 min read14 April

An influential Ukrainian MP has urged the UK government to “balance” its increased defence spending with sustained humanitarian aid for Ukraine, as the war with Russia continues.

"Having balance between defence spending and humanitarian aid to foreign countries would be very much preferred," Oleksandr Vasiuk told PoliticsHome.

Vasiuk is a Ukrainian MP and member of President Volodomyr Zelensky’s ‘Servant of the People’ Party. Vasiuk also heads up the Strategic Ukraine-US Partnership, a cross-party parliamentary association aimed at strengthening the bond between Ukraine and the US.

Thirty-year-old Vasiuk was born in the city of Zaporizhzhia in south-east Ukraine, a region which has been subjected to the worst Russian bombardment since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Only three weeks ago, a drone attack on the city killed three people – including a teenage girl – and injured at least 12 people.

In an interview with PoliticsHome, Vasiuk said his country is still in a state of total war, and therefore needs the ongoing support in both defence and development aid from the UK in order to prevent it from being stuck in a “frozen conflict”.

“The Ukrainian population, civilian and military, most of our people are extremely involved in the resistance, either front or rear,” he said.

“Our military, our soldiers, are doing the nearly impossible every day on the front line, opposing a huge enemy that is very unfortunately, very well-armed. As Ukrainians, we believe in the coming of just peace and not just temporary peace. Ukrainians believe in justice.”

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War, with the aim to increase it to 2.5 per cent of GDP by April 2027 and reach 3 per cent in the next Parliament.

“This is great,” Vasiuk said, describing the decision as a “necessity”.

“It's a sign of decisiveness and it's a sign to the citizens of the UK and to other democratic nations that defending the UK’s own territorial integrity and sovereignty is a priority and should be a priority for a nation.”

However, alongside the defence spending boost, the UK also announced a cut to international aid from 0.5 per cent of gross national income to 0.3 per cent in 2027.

Starmer at the time said it was a necessary decision, but not one that he was not "happy to make". The move triggered consternation among many Labour MPs. This included Anneliese Dodds, who resigned as international development minister over the decision, warning that the cuts would make it "impossible to maintain" priorities like continued humanitarian support for Ukraine.

Vasiuk said he understood that “you cannot just increase the budget for something without cutting it somewhere else” – but added he was “hopeful that this will not impact Ukraine in large ways”.

“Defence spending should be a priority, but having balance between defence spending and humanitarian aid to foreign countries would be very much preferred, because Ukraine right now is suffering an ongoing humanitarian crisis which we cannot afford ourselves,” he said.

“We cannot just put ourselves in the position where the aid is becoming unsystematic or is becoming unreliable. It's very important for us.”

The final plans for the allocation of overseas aid will be announced in the Spending Review in the summer, with the UK government carrying out impact assessments to ensure it gets the best value for money.

The UK has contributed a total of £477m in humanitarian funding for Ukraine and the region since the start of the full-scale invasion. It is also in discussions with other European countries about forming a "coalition of the willing" — an agreement to protect Ukraine militarily from future attack if a peace deal is agreed.

“We want to see a peacekeeping mission as soon as possible in Ukraine,” Vasiuk said.

“But such a mission and such an initiative can only happen in the conditions where the Russians are proactively seeking a ceasefire and are genuinely ready to have negotiations. Nothing like that could ever be possible or feasible when the Russians keep both attacking and terrorising civilians.”

Oleksandr Vasiuk visited London in February to discuss how Ukraine is tackling corruption (Oleksandr Vasiuk)

As the head of the US-Ukraine Strategic Partnership, one of Vasiuk’s primary responsibilities is to foster cooperation between the US Congress and Ukrainian Parliament. The relationship between Washington and Kyiv came under significant strain in February when Zelensky's visit to the White House resulted in a tense, public exchange with US President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance.

Speaking on a video call via an interpreter, Vasiuk was keen to stress that the relationship between the US and Ukraine had not been damaged by that event.

“No matter how things might look to the outsiders of the process, no matter how things might look on the surface and how they might be presented publicly, the communication between Rada [Ukrainian Parliament] and the American Congress has not been reduced," he said.

“There is still a lot of communication happening, so I see that as a continuous positive sign that America remains our strategic partner.”

Vasiuk said the strategic partnership association was “definitely working” on “strengthening and expanding” the US-Ukraine relationship, and that it was also in dialogue with the US on the issue of widespread tariffs.

Earlier this month, Trump announced sweeping tariffs on countries around the world, including 10 per cent on all Ukrainian goods – compared with 20 per cent on the EU and 54 per cent on China.

“There is a good chance that Ukraine will not be imposing any tariffs on America,” he said.

“There's probably going to be something constructive happening within this dialogue between Ukraine and America.”

Vasiuk added that a “big priority” for him was to plan for the rebuilding of Ukraine – in which he sees the UK “becoming a key partner and a key investor into the rebuilding of energy infrastructure, transport, infrastructure and economy overall”.

“Another important help that the UK can provide and is already providing, is advice on how to support democratic institutions and on how to fight corruption, because anti-corruption infrastructure is something that we're actively working on in Ukraine right now. This can definitely provide and support the sustainability of Ukraine's development.”

The Ukrainian MP told PoliticsHome that the international community, including the UK, should also be “actively involved in forcing Russia into peace” and holding it accountable for war crimes once a ceasefire is reached.

“Russia must be held accountable for every crime against humanity and every war crime that it has done,” Vasiuk said.

“That's why just forgetting about things and freezing the conflict is not something that will ever be appropriate.”

He added that he would like to see Russian assets in the UK being seized and repurposed towards rebuilding Ukraine. While the UK government has frozen over £750m in Russian assets, it has yet to reach an agreement with other countries on how to completely seize the assets and avoid legal challenges.

PoliticsHome understands that the government is working “urgently” to explore these legal avenues to ensure Russia pays towards repairing the destruction caused by the war.

“The UK can play a tremendous role here,” Vasiuk said.

A UK government spokesperson said: “The UK is committed to supporting Ukraine both on and off the battlefield. Our non-military commitments to Ukraine since the start of the invasion come to £5 billion, including a total of £477 million in humanitarian funding for Ukraine and the region since the start of the full-scale invasion.

“The Prime Minister has been clear that we will continue to play a key humanitarian role in Ukraine.”