Former prime minister Boris Johnson said Brexit would allow the UK to "do something different" in supplying weapons to Ukraine to fight invading Russian troops.
He said that the provision of anti-tank missiles to the Ukrainian armed forces would not have occurred absent Britain's exit from the European Union.
Mr Johnson made the comments following a speech at the Atlantic Council in Washington, US.
He used the speech to press for the West to supply Kyiv with the weapons it needs for an offensive, including long-range missiles and fighter jets.
Taking questions after his speech, Mr Johnson was asked for his thoughts on Europe's response to the conflict.
In comments coming a day after the three-year anniversary of Brexit, Mr Johnson — who sealed the UK's withdrawal, along with a trade deal with Brussels, while prime minister — said Britain's EU split allowed his government to send next generation light anti-tank weapons (NLaws) to Ukraine.
"I sincerely believe that Brexit played a role in our ability to make a decision and have an approach that was significantly different from the old EU strategy, which, by the way, was all dictated by the famous Normandy Format that was established in Normandy in 2014," he said.
"For reasons that are now obscure to me, the British government decided they did not want to be involved in this. France and Germany led it, that was the EU framework.
"If we'd stuck with that, I don't believe we would have delivered the NLaws and I think we would have taken a very different approach, to be perfectly frank.
"I think because of Brexit we've been able to do things differently and I hope in a way that has been useful to Ukraine."
Mr Johnson said supplying Kyiv with weapons to break through Russian lines in the east and south of the country would mean it was "game over" for Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Boris Johnson has argued for Ukraine to be permitted to join Nato after the conflict is finished (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office/PA)
Kyiv has a plan for how its troops could pierce through the "land bridge" occupied by the Kremlin's forces, he said.
"This is the area, as it was, between Mariupol, between Donbas and the Crimea that Putin has taken, that long strip of land that basically prevents the Ukrainians from reaching the Azov Sea. That's the area," he said during the question and answer session.
If they take that back — which they can and they have a plan — if they can take back Melitopol and Berdyansk and Mariupol, get back those areas, it is game over for Putin. That's what needs to happen."
Mr Johnson said there were "no conceivable grounds for delay" in giving Ukrainians the military support they need to end the conflict.
The UK and the US have so far been reluctant to offer sophisticated war planes, such as Typhoons and F-35s used by the RAF or the F-16 fighters deployed by the US Air Force.
But during his speech, the former No 10 incumbent said the West needed to expand on the aid already provided and "give the Ukrainians the tools to finish the job".
They have a strategy, they know what they need to do, and, my God, they have demonstrated they have the skill and the fortitude to execute it, so give them the deep-fire artillery systems, the tanks, and the planes, he said.
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