Former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing pressure from a group of former defence secretaries and an ex-prime minister to permit Ukraine to use long-range

missiles within Russian territory, even if it means acting without U.S. support, according to a report by the Sunday Times on Saturday.

The appeal comes from five former Conservative defence secretaries: Grant Shapps, Ben Wallace, Gavin Williamson, Penny Mordaunt, and Liam Fox, along with former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. They have warned Starmer that delaying action would only serve to embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Sunday Times reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been urging Western allies for months to grant Ukraine access to long-range missiles, such as the U.S.-made ATACMS and British Storm Shadows, to strike deep into Russian territory and disrupt Moscow’s capacity to launch attacks.

Starmer recently held discussions with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington on whether to authorize Ukraine’s use of these missiles against Russian targets, though no decision has yet been made public.

However, some U.S. officials remain doubtful that deploying these missiles would significantly alter the course of Ukraine’s ongoing battle with Russian forces. Russian President Putin has warned that any Western allowance for Ukraine to strike with long-range, Western-made missiles would effectively amount to direct involvement in the conflict against Russia. Photo by Corrado Baldassi, Wikimedia commons.