London: In order to step up military support for Kyiv against Russia's invasion, a group of European nations led by Britain has requested expressions of interest to provide Ukraine with missiles with a range of up to 300 km (190 miles).

A notice published last week by the International Fund for Ukraine, a group of nations that includes Britain, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden and was established to send weapons to Kyiv, included a request for responses from businesses that could provide such missiles.

Companies were asked to contact them if they could provide missiles that can be launched from land, sea, or the air with a payload of between 20 and 490 kg (44 and 1,078 pounds).

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Additional desirable specifications were requested in the notice, such as "low probability of intercept," "mission planning capability," and "air defence penetration methods to increase probability of successful strike." Companies that responded would be contacted starting on June 5, according to the notice.

At a think tank event in Washington, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was asked about British policy on providing fighter jets and long-range missiles to Ukraine. He declined to provide any specific details.

However, he stressed the significance of continuing to look for ways to "enhance and speed up the support we give to Ukraine."

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If we were putting things away for a rainy day, he declared, "this is the rainy day."
According to a British official, there has been no final decision regarding the deployment of missiles with the capabilities described in the published notice to Ukraine.

The procurement notice's specifics were covered in depth earlier on Tuesday by The Washington Post. This year, Britain and other Western nations have increased their military aid commitments to Ukraine.

14 of Britain's primary Challenger 2 battle tanks would be sent to Ukraine, the country announced in January. Later, other countries, including Germany and the United States, agreed to provide tanks.

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According to Yuriy Sak, an advisor to Ukraine's defence minister, Kyiv had no specific knowledge of the UK-led initiative to provide long-range missiles, but Ukraine had been persistently pleading with Western governments to provide long-range weapons for months.

"We would welcome it if the UK takes on a leadership role with the long-range missiles, in the same way they did with the Challenger 2 main battle tanks," the man said.