Britain will join the US in sending long-range missile systems to Ukraine to help fend off the Russian invasion, defying warnings from Vladimir Putin against supplying Kyiv with the advanced weapons.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Britain will send M270 launchers, which can fire precision-guided rockets up to 50 miles – more than double the range of current artillery. It is thought the UK will initially send three of the vehicles.
It comes after Joe Biden signed over four M142 HIMARS launchers to Kyiv’s forces, which are based on the design of the M270 but are lighter and easier to manoeuvre.
Putin warned on Sunday that he views the move as an escalation, saying Russian forces will ‘strike at those targets which we have not yet been hitting’ if the weapons arrive in Ukraine – without specifying which targets he was talking about.
