Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has criticised the West for slow arms deliveries to Ukraine and called on the United Kingdom to send more military aid to the Ukrainian Armed Forces without delay.

"There is only one thing they want from us, and that is the weaponry to finish the job – and so I simply do not understand why we keep dragging our feet. Why are we always so slow? How can we look these men in the eye, and explain the delay? Throughout this war we have underestimated the Ukrainians and overestimated Putin, and we are doing the same today," Johnson wrote for The Spectator.

Johnson also criticised the US for not providing Kyiv with ATACMS missiles.

"President Zelenskyy told me that he needs just 200 more sophisticated ballistic systems such as ATACMs, and the US has thousands in store. Why keep them on ice? What other purpose could they possibly serve that would better guarantee the long-term security of the West, including the United States?" the politician noted.

Johnson noted that some in Washington have said that the US should stick to a "China First" strategy and keep ATACMS in reserve in case they have to be sent to defend Taiwan. 

In Johnson’s opinion, the best way to deter an attack on Taiwan is to make sure the Ukrainians win, and to do so as soon as possible.

He also stressed that Ukraine needs more missile systems, such as the British Storm Shadow, which has proven to be extremely valuable.

"That is why Putin will lose and Ukraine will eventually win; and since that is what must happen, and since that is what is going to happen, can we not, in the name of all that is holy, give the Ukrainians now the military assistance they need to bring matters to the speediest possible conclusion so that fewer human beings are thrown into the charnel-house of this pointless conflict? I have asked it before, and I ask it again: what the hell are we waiting for?"

It was reported earlier that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hopes to convince his American counterpart Joe Biden to approve the decision to transfer long-range ATACMS systems to the Ukrainian military in the near future so that Ukraine can receive them this autumn.

Reuters reported that the Biden administration was close to approving the delivery of longer-range missiles with cluster munitions to Ukraine.