Joint Expeditionary Force launches enhanced partnership with Ukraine

Ukraine has received ‘Enhanced Partnership’ status with the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF): a UK-led framework of 10 countries from Northern and Eastern Europe who share a collective desire for security and stability in the High North and Baltic region.

The corresponding memorandum was signed by the defence ministers of the JEF member states – the UK, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – as Ukrainian Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal joined them in Bodø, Norway, on 5 November 2025.

The enhanced JEF-Ukraine partnership is expected to see the JEF deliver training for the Ukrainian armed forces and closer collaboration on the protection of critical underwater infrastructure, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) development, battlefield medicine, and methods for countering disinformation.

“Partnering more with Ukraine will enable JEF nations to learn vital lessons from the battlefield, strengthening all nations’ national security, driving innovation, and boosting lethality,” the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) stated in a 5 November press release.

UK Defence Secretary John Healey stated, “Our new enhanced partnership with Ukraine will enable JEF nations to step up with further support to put Ukrainians in the best possible position in defending their freedom.

“Through UK leadership on Ukraine and unity through JEF, we are sending a clear message to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin: your aggression will be met with our strength.”

The defence ministers’ meeting in Bodø followed the conclusion of the two-month-long Exercise ‘Tarassis’ in the last week of October the JEF’s largest and most significant military activity since it was established at the NATO 2014 Summit in Wales. ‘Tarassis’ involved more than 1,700 British personnel from all three UK armed services exercising alongside JEF allies. The activity spanned across Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and the wider Baltic Sea.