Boris Johnson and Liz Truss have urged Rishi Sunak to send fighter jets to Ukraine during a debate in the House of Commons.
Truss said she “could not wait to see fighter jets over Ukraine” during her first contribution as a backbench MP since her resignation in October, while Johnson, her immediate predecessor who resigned in July, urged the government to “cut to the chase” and “give them the planes”.
Their interventions added to the pressure on the prime minister to send British fighter jets to Ukraine.
“We need to do all we can to make sure Ukraine wins this war as soon as possible,” Truss said during a debate on the conflict in Ukraine.
“Every extra day, a life lost, women violated, towns destroyed. We need to do all we can, as fast as we can.
“My view is that does include fighter jets and we have had a discussion today about which are the best possible options … having spoken to the Ukrainians about this, months and months ago, I know what they want is an option.”
She added: “[We] supplied weapons to Ukraine, and many around this chamber have commented that maybe we should have supplied weapons earlier, but I can tell you from working inside the government, that we did all we could as quickly as we could to persuade allies, and we have built up now an alliance of countries supplying those weapons and I can’t wait to see the tanks, and I can’t wait to see the fighter jets in Ukraine to help those brave Ukrainians.”
Truss also insisted the government should ensure that “money seized from the Russian state is used to rebuild Ukraine” and that “any lifting of sanctions is tied to reform in Russia”.
Meanwhile, Johnson warned MPs that Russia would benefit from China supplying lethal weapons to support the invasion, which began in February 2022.
“The Ukrainians are not just fighting for their freedom, but for the cause of freedom around the world. We should give them what they need, not next month, not next year, but now,” he said.
The Commons debate took place as the US president, Joe Biden, visited the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Monday morning.
Surrounded by a large security detail, Biden was escorted by his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on a walkabout around the city centre.
Zelenskiy made an emotional appeal for jets in an address to the Houses of Parliament during a visit to London earlier this month.
