Last week I went on one of the most moving trips I have ever been on – to Ukraine, where I met President Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

He is one of the most impressive men on the planet, leading his whole country in a long and difficult war against Putin whilst also surviving multiple assassination attempts.

Yet, despite this, he was calm and clear about what he needs from the West.

I spoke to him about the £500 million of new funding and munitions that we are providing, which boosts our total military aid for Ukraine to £3 billion this year.

President Zelenskyy made it clear that he sees us as real partners and that our support is very much necessary.

Meanwhile, I felt very proud that we have been and continue to be such strong leaders in the case for supporting Ukraine. 

But why do we need to provide that support? One reason is self-interest. If Putin succeeds in Ukraine, somewhere else in Europe will be next, so Ukraine’s safety is our safety too.

Secondly, we have seen that the world is changing with authoritarian states working more closely together to undermine democracies.

They are investing heavily in militaries, and increasingly cooperating to cause more instability across the world. That poses so many risks to our security and prosperity, and indeed we have already seen how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused our energy bills to increase. 

That is why earlier last week I also went to Poland with Rishi Sunak as he announced that we will spend 2.5 per cent of our GDP on defence by the end of the decade.

The extra money will go towards modernising our Armed Forces, reforming defence procurement, and creating a new Defence Innovation Agency to make sure that we are at the forefront of modern warfare technology such as drones.

If other European nations follow our lead, as I hope they will, it will mean that NATO spending increases by £140 billion per year – easily outmatching Russia’s war efforts. 

This is the greatest deterrent we could show the likes of Putin and is the most important measure we can take if we are to maintain our security. All in all, a proud moment to be British.