Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has approved the use of British long-range missiles to be used in Crimea (Picture: PA)

Britain is prepared to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles to be used to launch strikes on Russian-occupied Crimea, in what would be a major escalation of western involvement in the war.

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenksy visited Downing St this week to push for greater UK support in the conflict, during which Rishi Sunak told him ‘nothing is off the table’ when it comes to Britain’s military aid.

The UK joined the US and Germany in providing high-end tanks to Ukraine last month but they are not likely to arrive until March or April.

Russia is now seeking to take advantage of this delay, preparing a huge fighting force of up to 500,000 men to launch a ‘major new offensive’ to mark the anniversary of the war.

A Ukrainian military official has warned that Putin’s forces have amassed 1,800 tanks, 3,950 armoured vehicles, 2,700 artillery systems, 810 Soviet-era multiple-rocket-launch systems, 400 fighter jets and 300 helicopters in preparation for a major offensive within the next ten days, Foreign Policy reports.

The move comes as Russia prepares to launch a major new offensive in the East (Picture: EPA)

To counter this surge, Ukraine has spoken of its need to cripple Russia’s bases and logistics centres, which it plans to do by launching long-range missile strikes ‘deep into the occupied territories,’ according to Zelensky.

Ukraine defence sources told the Times that Kyiv is prepared to use the missiles to strike Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.

Despite an initial reluctance, Western allies have softened their stance on supplying Ukraine with long-range weaponry in recent weeks, having accepted Kyiv’s arguments that Crimea is an occupied territory which constitutes a legitimate target.

Talks are now in place to decide exactly how many British long-range missiles could be sent, despite previous concerns that enabling Ukraine to launch cross-border strikes on Russia could escalate the conflict.

Addressing journalists at a press conference with Sunak, Zelensky framed the Russian invasion as an attack on all of Europe, and thanked the ‘western coalition’ for their continued support.

‘We are defending against the most anti-European force of the modern world,’ Zelensky said. ‘We are defending ourselves- we Ukrainians on the battlefield — along with you.’

He added: ‘You’ve just asked me what would happen if we don’t get these fighter jets or longer-range missiles, or we don’t have enough ammunition, because everything obviously is running out and coming out of maintenance.

‘Without the weapons that we are discussing now and the weapons that we just discussed with Rishi earlier today and how Britain is going to help us, you know, all of this is very important. 

Crimea is of tremendous strategic and symbolic importance to Vladimir Putin, who considers it a symbol of his vision for Russia (Picture: Reuters)

‘Without this, there would be stagnation which will not bring to anything good.’

The Crimean peninsula is a symbolic and strategic prize for both Ukraine and Russia, with its annexation by Moscow in 2014 proving to be the catalyst for the current conflict.

Crimea is considered to be legally part of Ukraine, and President Zelensky has repeatedly included the return of the peninsula as one of his core aims for the termination of the war.

Putin meanwhile views Crimea as a symbol of Russia’s imperialist ambitions and the jewel of his new empire, and has said he will go to any lengths- including nuclear- to defend it.

The land also provides immense strategic value, and the amount of troops Putin was able to deploy there was a major factor in Russia’s ability to seize territory in the early days of the invasion.

Ukraine has already made probing strikes into Crimea, destroying a number of air bases and partially destroying the Kerch bridge which connects the region to Russia.

But Western nations, seeking a swift end to the conflict, believe a successful campaign to retake Crimea could be a key component in forcing Putin to withdraw his forces.

‘If Ukrainians move south and take back that territory using all this new Western equipment on the Black Sea Coast, the entire region of the Crimea is now under threat from Ukrainian weapons,’ said Taras Kuzio, Professor of Political Science at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla in Ukraine. 

Rishi Sunak has said ‘nothing is off the table’ when it comes to supplying Ukraine with military aid (Picture: PA)

If this happens, he told Metro.co.uk, ‘Every single base in the Crimea, including the Black Sea base in Sevastopol, would be under potential attack from Ukraine.

‘And that could force Russians to say “we really need to talk about this.”’

Britain is currently debating how many Harpoon anti-ship missiles – which were used earlier in the conflict to sink the Russian flagship Moskva in the Black Sea – to send to Ukraine, along with a number of surface-to-air Storm Shadows.

Boris Johnson, who was prime minister at the start of the conflict and a close ally of Zelensky, has urged Rishi Sunak to give Ukraine the ‘tools to finish the job’ of defeating the Kremlin’s troops.

However, the Russian embassy responded by sending a chilling warning to No 10, in which they said the decision to provide further arms to Ukraine would be ‘on London’s conscience,’ because of the ‘bloodshed… escalation, and subsequent military and political ramifications for the European continent and the entire globe’.

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Ukraine is prepared to use British missiles to strike Russian territory in occupied Crimea, marking a major escalation in the war.