Boris Johnson has accused Rishi Sunak and President Biden of “dragging their feet” over the war in Ukraine by failing to supply more weapons to help “finish the job” against Russia.
The ex-prime minister urged the UK and US to step up their military support for Kyiv with long-range missiles and more sophisticated air defences and drone technology and asked: “What the hell are we waiting for?”
Mr Johnson, who on a visit to Ukraine this week visited injured soldiers in a military hospital, asked Mr Sunak and President Biden how their governments could “look these men in the eye and explain the delay”.
In an article for The Spectator, the former prime minister and close ally of President Zelensky was also scathing about the failure of the G20 summit in Delhi last weekend to issue a robust message to Vladimir Putin, calling the communique by world leaders “feeble”.
The intervention is one of the most pointed challenges to the Prime Minister since Mr Sunak arrived in Downing Street 11 months ago.
The UK has recently supplied Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine to help in its battle against Russia, and Sky News reported on Thursday that these 150-mile range cruise missiles were used by Ukrainian forces to attack a Russian submarine and ship in the Black Sea.
However, Mr Johnson urged the US to provide extra long-range missiles to be deployed alongside the Storm Shadows, saying: “President Zelensky told me that he needs just 200 more sophisticated ballistic systems such as ATACMs, and the US has thousands in store. Why keep them on ice?”
He also said the UK Ministry of Defence could supply more air defence systems, drone technology and howitzers.
Mr Johnson added that if President Putin wins then “the story of Ukraine will be of lion-hearted Ukrainian troops finally betrayed by western loss of nerve” and it would be a “catastrophe” for the West, including the US president.
He said: “The Ukrainians were appalled by India’s feeble G20 summit communiqué, and the Indian refusal, despite the pleas of Joe Biden, to allow Zelensky even to address the meeting in his usual fashion.”
Describing his visit to the hospital where he met badly injured Ukrainian soldiers, Mr Johnson wrote: “There is only one thing they want from us, and that is the weaponry to finish the job – and so I simply do not understand why we keep dragging our feet.
“Why are we always so slow? How can we look these men in the eye, and explain the delay? Throughout this war we have underestimated the Ukrainians and overestimated Putin, and we are doing the same today.”
Under Mr Johnson’s premiership, the UK became a staunch ally of Kyiv when the Russian invasion began and both as PM and since leaving No10 he has visited President Zelensky a number of times.
While Mr Sunak has maintained that close relationship, welcoming him to Westminster in February, Mr Johnson made clear that the UK’s military effort in the war in Ukraine has not kept pace with the conflict.
Mr Johnson has remained close to the political frontline by writing a weekly column for the Daily Mail, but he has chosen to refrain from direct criticism of the Prime Minister.
His Spectator article will be seen as a sign that he intends to maintain pressure on Mr Sunak on a number of issues, particularly on those close to his heart like the war in Ukraine.
Mr Johnson is not the only ex-prime minister causing trouble for Mr Sunak this week. Theresa May took a veiled swipe at Downing Street’s current inhabitant’s failure to vote on the privileges committee report into Mr Johnson’s conduct.
However, Mr Johnson’s allies have said that it was always his plan to champion Kyiv’s battle for freedom against Russia, and so his intervention could be taken as just that rather than any attempt to destabilise Mr Sunak’s premiership.
A government spokesperson said: “Since Putin’s full scale illegal invasion of Ukraine, the UK has been a leading international donor of military aid to Ukraine – second only to the United States.
“Under this Prime Minister’s leadership, the UK was the first to send long range air missiles to Ukraine and host an international conference which raised over $60 billion towards Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction. We have also surged our support by sending main battle tanks.
“Our support for Ukraine is unwavering, and the Prime Minister has been clear that we’ll continue to back Ukraine to ensure they win this war and reclaim their sovereignty.