How Britons became happy hawks on Russia

They simply love to poke the bear

Few things cheer Britons more than the thought of Russian troops being turned to dust with the aid of British ingenuity. At the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Boris Johnson toured the Belfast factory that churned out nlaws, the toddler-size rocket launchers that can whizz a 1.8kg warhead towards a Russian tank at 200 metres per second. It was no coincidence that one of Sir Keir Starmer’s first foreign-policy moves as prime minister was to wonder whether Ukraine should be allowed to fire “Storm Shadow” missiles 250km into Russia.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Happy hawks ”

From the February 22nd 2025 edition

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