Chris Mason
Political editor
This is undoubtedly a moment, after months of very protracted and public conversation about it.
That very public debate, incidentally, has irritated senior figures in the West, who have felt privately that that has made their decision making harder, risked provoking Russia and given Moscow time to prepare.
But such is the nature of free, western democracies – a vigorous press, a vigorous public debate.
And, in this instance, a wartime leader in President Zelensky of Ukraine making a very public case for the help he needs.
When I interviewed him four months ago, back in July, he was calling for the very thing we are now seeing happen.
It was then a topic of discussion at the White House in September when the prime minister was there to see President Biden.
The UK has long seen itself as “forward facing”, as it was put to me by a senior figure in making the case for this with allies, some of whom were nervous it could escalate the conflict.
While there has been no confirmation from the government in London that Storm Shadow missiles have been used, plenty of MPs interpreted the defence secretary’s answer to a question about it as a tacit ‘yes’ even if that word never passed his lips.
Some here do worry about the implications of this – could Russia respond with a cyber attack, or attacking undersea communication cables, for instance?
But plenty think this is a necessary, even overdue, stepping up of support for a democratic ally continuing to face a pounding from Russia.
We’re now ending our live coverage, but our main news story will be across any further developments throughout the night or you can scroll back to our post below to get caught up on everything you missed today.
