THE HAGUE — The U.K. promised to boost Ukraine’s air defense with hundreds of missiles as Keir Starmer strives to fly the flag for Kyiv at this week’s NATO summit. 

The new package of 350 ASRAAM air defense missiles will be paid for with £70 million raised from interest on seized Russian assets, the British government announced.

Arriving in the Hague, Starmer said: “Russia, not Ukraine, should pay the price for Putin’s barbaric and illegal war, so it is only right we use the proceeds from seized Russian assets to ensure Ukraine has the air defense it needs.”

He added that “our support will never waver” as he repeated his call for Russia’s Vladimir Putin to return to the negotiating table in stalled peace talks. 

Volodomyr Zelenskyy arrived at the NATO gathering shortly after meeting both King Charles and Starmer in London. The pair have offered their public support to the Ukrainian president at a time acute tensions in the Middle East threaten to overshadow Ukraine’s own fight.

U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey warned that it was “in Putin’s interests” that the world’s attention is fixed on the conflict between Israel and Iran, and it is “crucial that we continue to focus on Ukraine.”

He told a panel discussion at the summit that defending Ukraine will remain a bipartisan issue in Britain and commands robust public support.

International leaders meeting in the Hague have been firmly focused on the landmark agreement for allies to spend 5 percent of GDP on defense amid fears of any further cooling by Trump towards NATO or Zelenskyy himself.