Andy Burnham's Ukraine visit has been branded "purely symbolic" as the Prime Minister vowed he would not be deterred from providing aide to Ukraine.
Associate Editor at The Spectator Owen Matthews said the Prime Minister's offer of the British Storm Shadow missile "doesn't actually make any difference whatsoever to the current war."
Mr Burnham has spent the day in Ukraine, his first foreign trip as Prime Minister, coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the country’s independence from the Soviet Union.
However, Mr Matthews has told GB News Ukraine's current production of long-range drones and missiles is more efficient and cost-effective than Storm Shadows.
When asked what Mr Burnham would do differently from his predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, Mr Matthews told GB News: "What Mr Burnham actually did today unlike Starmer, was actually bring the license and blueprints for Ukrainian production of Storm Shadows.
"But again, while they are potentially militarily significant, actually Storm Shadows are, although they might be more stealthy and more accurate than most of Ukraine's current production, much more expensive.
"For one, they won't be produced at the very, very, very earliest until 2027. So this war will be long over before the first Ukrainian-made storm shadow rolls off the production lines. So it makes no difference whatsoever for the current war."
He added the Ukraine War was proving to be a "global bellwether" into the way that international defense procurement goes, adding it was looking more likely for countries "to produce in volume and cheaply, and rather than very expensive missile rocket technology, which has quite a high chance of being shot down and costs a huge amount of money."
Mr Matthews said: "I don't think that Burnham's delivery or offer of Storm Shadow production actually makes any difference whatsoever to the current war. "
During his speech marking Ukraine’s independence day, he praised the "sheer strength" of the Ukrainian people and described their country as "Europe’s protector, not a drain on our security, but the front line in keeping Europe safe".
Mr Burnham went on to compare Ukraine’s resistance to Russia to the UK’s fight with Nazi Germany, saying: "My nation kept the flame of European freedom alive in the 20th century, you hold that flame in the 21st."
However, Mr Matthews criticised the comparison, saying: "In general, I don't think that Nazi comparisons are very helpful or accurate, to be honest.
"Hitler had a clearly defined program of expansion or national creating Lebensraum for the German Reich and for eliminating Bolshevism and International Judaism set out in Mein Kampf.
"Putin believes that he is doing different things, He is uniting the Russian people and protecting the people he regards as Russians in Ukraine.
"I believe that he honestly thinks that this is a sort of grand defensive war against a sort of against Nato encroachment. So I think the well springs are fundamentally different."
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On his visit, the Prime Minister urged Ukraine’s allies to provide more Patriot interceptor missiles to Kyiv as he called on the US Congress to "ratchet up" economic pressure on Russia.
However, Mr Matthews cast doubt on Mr Burnham's ability to attract attention from the White House, adding: "I don't think there's anything that Britain can do at this stage on any front, economic, military, or political, that the the United States would care about.
"Russia has been launching at least 70 ballistic missiles in these nightly big attacks.
"So Mr Burnham is providing missiles, but is providing the wrong missiles that are going to be available too late, and the missiles that actually Ukraine needs to defend itself are the Patriot interceptors.
"That's something President Trump has refused to to provide because they fired them all off in in Iran, and the US doesn't have enough stockpiles or production to meet Ukraine's needs, and that's really existential problem for Kyiv."
Speaking at today's event in the Ukrainian capital, President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed his country would "not submit" to Russia as he presented Andy Burnham with an award recognising the UK’s support for his country.
In a defiant speech marking Ukraine’s 35th Independence Day in front of the Saint Sophia cathedral in Kyiv, Mr Zelensky said: “Ukrainians will not be cobblestones under the feet of tsars and rulers. Ukrainians will not submit."
Reacting to this, Rob Clarke from the Yorktown Institute told GB News: "I welcomed the Prime Minister's first international visit being to Ukraine
"Both for the added value of defence and foreign policy knowledge it will give him when he's been focused on domestic issues, but also the strong the signal it gives to Moscow, who have continued to attempt to intimidate Britain through recent threats to our commercial shipping, and for our continued support to Ukraine."
However, he was quick to issue a message to the Labour front bench about the ongoing support for Britain's defence.
He said: "Britain's decision today to allow UK Storm Shadow components to be released to Ukraine, under a deal with Paris and Kyiv, highlights the UK's continued strategic relationship with Ukraine, as they continue to resist Russia's unprovoked invasion.
"The missing piece on this jigsaw now however remains a firm commitment from Burnham and his Chancellor, John Healey, to set a timeframe for reaching three per cent of GDP for defence."
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