Ukraine must not be held back from using Storm Shadow missiles
3 min read
Checking into my hotel in Kyiv last week, I was given a handout explaining what to do in the event of an air raid. I’m here for an international conference, I thought to myself – that’s not something I’ll have to worry about.
Around 12 hours later, at 1.40am, that illusion was shattered. Waking up to the sound of an air raid siren, I realised this was no fire drill. The Russians were attacking Kyiv.
Throwing on my clothes while the sirens wailed, I soon joined my fellow MPs in the underground car park. Two stories below ground, it was the hotel’s makeshift bomb shelter. The Ukrainians quickly settled into the beds provided and fell asleep. In time, so did I.
Kyiv is protected by world-class missile defence systems. Of the 76 Russian missiles fired at the city that night, 72 were blown out of the air. This was the first time I’d ever experienced an air raid. It will stay in my memory for a long time.
But for the brave people of Ukraine, this is a nightly terror. As a soldier said to our delegation of MPs during our visit, since Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion nobody has been able to live a normal life. Yet despite that, the people of Ukraine carry on.
I was in Kyiv to see that first-hand with a group of newly elected Labour MPs. We attended the Yalta European Strategy (YES)Conference, where a roster of international speakers reiterated something imperative to our own future as much as theirs: Ukraine must win. Whether it was President Volodymyr Zelensky opening the conference, or the soldiers just back from the frontline who closed it, there was unanimity.
As our delegation toured around the city, I met some of the bravest people I’ve ever come across. In the rehabilitation centre, I met soldiers who had lost legs now adjusting to life with prosthetic limbs.
I know that our Prime Minister, Foreign and Defence secretaries are doing everything they can to convince our allies
In a hotel conference suite, I met fellows of the John Smith Institute who were thinking about how to continue the education of young people while the war rages on. And in a children’s hospital, I saw the brutality of what everyone was facing.
Just over two months ago, the Russian military fired a missile directly at this centre for sick kids. It’s hard to imagine how anyone, be it a military commander giving the instruction or a missile operator fulfilling it, could do such a thing. Unfortunately, it is a well-worn tactic of Putin.
Seeing the barbarity, and meeting some of the kids still being treated there, I came away with a renewed determination to do everything to support Ukraine.
Many of the Russian attacks on this amazing country originate from within a few hundred kilometres of the Russian border. British-made equipment, the Storm Shadow missiles, is capable of destroying these military targets. But Ukraine is being held back from using it.
That must change. I know that our Prime Minister, Foreign and Defence secretaries are doing everything they can to convince our allies of that.
Every second that we hold Ukraine back from the operations it needs to undertake is a second that Putin savours. His threats of escalation have throughout this conflict proven to be empty. We must grant Ukraine the ability to strike these legitimate military targets, and urgently.
I intend to use my position as a new Labour MP to support this government in its endeavour to support Ukraine. As I said to everyone I met in Ukraine: there has been a change of government in the UK, but there will be no change to support for your fight. Because the fight for Ukrainian freedom is the fight for freedom and democracy the world over.
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