France, Germany and Italy sold hundreds of millions of pounds worth of arms to Russia despite ban

Javelin and NLAW anti-tank missiles

Cost: £130,000 each (Javelin missile), £35,000 each (NLAW)

Range: 18,000 ft (Javelin) and 3,300 ft (NLAW)

Warhead: 19 lb highly explosive warhead (Javelin), 27 lb HEAT warhead (NLAW) 

How many has Ukraine received? 300 Javelins from the US and unknown number from UK and Estonia, at least 2,000 NLAWS

Many of the startling images of Russian tanks destroyed and burned out on Ukrainian roads are the result of one weapon – the ‘life giving’ Javelin.

These compact, shoulder-mounted missile launchers provided by Western countries including the UK and US have become a symbol of Ukraine’s defiant resistance to Russia’s invasion and are seen as the best way for the West to contribute without entering direct conflict. 

Capable of piercing the most sophisticated armour, deliveries of Javelins have massively stepped since the Kremlin launched its invasion on February 24.

According to a senior US official, the Ukrainians have already received some 17,000 anti-tank weapons from various Western countries, including several hundred Javelin launchers.

Bayraktar TB2 drones

Cost: Around £3.7million ($5 million) each

Range: 150 km with 300-litre fuel capacity

Payload: 330 lb of precision-guided munitions 

How many has Ukraine received? Several batches from Turkey said to total around 20, but official figure unknown

Ukraine’s air force has been using Turkish-made drones to carry out pop-up attacks with a lethal effectiveness that has surprised Western military experts.

The Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles, which carry lightweight, laser-guided bombs, normally excel in low-tech conflicts, and Turkey has over the years sold around 20 to Ukraine.

Stinger surface-to-air missiles

Cost: £97,000 ($130,000) per unit

Range: 15,000 ft with infrared homing

Warhead: Highly explosive 2.25 lb warhead

How many has Ukraine received? Unknown quantity from Latvia and Lithuania

Defence analysts have said one of Russia’s costliest mistakes is its lack of air superiority over Ukraine three weeks into the conflict and that this fails to reflect the tactics used by President Putin in his aerial bombardments of Syria and Chechnya.

Instead of sweeping air raids by Russian jets, the skies are being filled by surface-to-air missiles deployed by Ukrainians to pick away at the invading air force, one fighter at a time.

Soldiers have been armed with more Western weapons that give them the ability to shoot down Russian aircraft and cruise missiles at relatively close quarters.

The Stinger missile, which sits on the operator’s shoulder like the Javelin, was first developed in the US in 1981 and bears many of the same compact and portable benefits that help with ambush tactics.

Deployed to key frontline battle areas over the last few weeks, verified footage has shown surface-to-air missiles downing a Russian Su-25 fighter in Kharkiv, and a helicopter bursting into flames in a field near Kyiv.

S-300 surface-to-air missiles

Cost: £87million ($115 million) per system, £760,000 ($1million) per rocket

Range: 93 miles

Warhead: Highly explosive 315 lb fragmentation warhead

How many has Ukraine received? Unknown quantity from Slovakia

While Ukraine has been effective at knocking out Russia’s air power from close quarters, officials in Washington are arranging for it to acquire systems that can strike attacking aircraft much further away.

According to a military source, the systems are the Soviet/Russian-made S-300, which like the US-made Patriot system, is a fully automated, ground-based radar-and-missile launcher unit that can detect, track and fire at multiple incoming aerial threats at long distances.

Ukrainians already know how to operate the S-300, and the United States and a number of NATO countries possess the systems or components for them to supply Ukraine.

Slovakia, one of three NATO allies that have the S-300 missile defense system, have preliminarily agreed to provide the defence system but officials want assurances that the systems will be replaced immediately.

S-300s would be one of the most dangerous and deadly weapons in the Ukrainian arsenal.

It works via a long-range surveillance radar system tracking objects over a range of 300km and relaying information to a command vehicle which chooses a target.

Within five minutes of stopping, a separate launch vehicle can be prepared to launch up to 12 missiles simultaneously, engaging as many as six targets.