Putin says Russia hit Ukraine with new intermediate-range ballistic missile

Some in the UK are worried, others think this is long overduepublished at 21:08 Greenwich Mean Time November 20

Chris Mason
Political editor

This is undoubtedly a moment, after months of very prolonged and public conversations about it.

That public debate, moreover, irritated senior figures in the West, who felt privately that it made it harder for them to make decisions, risked provoking Russia and gave Moscow time to prepare.

But that’s the nature of free, Western democracies – a vigorous press, a vigorous public debate.

And in this case, a wartime leader in Ukraine’s President Zelensky is making a very public case for the help he needs.

When we interviewed him four months ago in July, he asked for exactly what we are now seeing happening.

Then it was a talking point at the White House in September when the prime minister was there to see President Biden.

The UK has long seen itself as “forward-looking”, as one senior figure told me in arguing this with allies, some of whom were nervous it might escalate the conflict.

Although there has been no confirmation from the government in London that Storm Shadow missiles were used, many MPs interpreted the defense secretary’s answer to a question about it as a tacit yes, even though that word never crossed his lips.

Some here worry about the implications of this – could Russia respond with a cyber attack or attacking submarine communications cables, for example?

But many believe this is a necessary, even overdue, boost in support for a democratic ally that continues to face blows from Russia.

We are now wrapping up our live coverage, but ours the main news will feature any further developments throughout the night, or you can scroll back to our post below to catch up on everything you missed today.