No new promise on Ukraine missiles after Starmer-Biden talks in Washington
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer did not show any decision to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles to hit targets inside Russia after talks with US President Joe Biden in Washington.
When asked if he had persuaded Biden to allow Ukraine to fire long-range Storm Shadow missiles into Russia, Sir Keir said “they had a long and successful discussion on many fronts, including Ukraine, as you would expect, the Middle East.” and the Indo-Pacific”.
The White House said they also expressed “deep concern about Iran and North Korea’s supply of dangerous weapons to Russia”.
Previously, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Western countries not to allow Ukraine to fire long-range missiles at Russia.
Putin said the move would represent “direct participation” by Nato in the war in Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters ahead of his meeting with Sir Keir at the White House, Biden said: “I don’t think much about Vladimir Putin”.
So far, the US and the UK have not given Ukraine permission to use long-range missiles against targets inside Russia, due to fears of escalation.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly urged Kyiv’s Western allies to authorize such use, saying it is the only way to end the war.
Since Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainian cities and front lines have been under daily bombardment from Russia.
Most of the missiles and glide bombs that hit Ukrainian military positions, apartment blocks, power plants and hospitals were launched by Russian planes deep inside Russia.
Kyiv says that not being allowed to hit the bases where the attack was launched is hampering its ability to defend itself.
The UK previously said Ukraine had an “unequivocal right” to use British-supplied weapons for “defence” that “does not prevent operations inside Russia”, following Kyiv’s surprise border attack last month.
However, this does not include the use of long-range Storm Shadow missiles in an area outside the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine.
The US supplied Ukraine with long-range missiles earlier this year, but like Kyiv’s other Western allies these are not authorized for use against targets deep in Russia.
Asked if he was alarmed by Putin’s threats about a possible war with Nato, Sir Keir said the “quickest way to resolve” the conflict in Ukraine “is to be found in what Putin actually does”.
Sir Keir said the White House meeting with Biden was an opportunity to discuss strategy in relation to Ukraine, “not just an initiative or a strategy”.
The two also discussed the situation in the Middle East, where Israel’s war with Gaza has been going on for almost a year, as well as “other places around the world”, Sir Keir added.
He told reporters that they will have another chance to discuss this issue at the United Nations General Assembly next week.
In a separate forum on Friday, before the meeting of the two leaders, the spokesman of the US National Security Council, John Kirby, said that Washington is not planning any changes in the restrictions imposed on Ukraine’s use of weapons made by the US to attack Russian territory.
Earlier on Friday, Moscow expelled six British diplomatsrevoking their accreditation and accusing them of espionage.
The country’s security service, the FSB, said in a statement that they had found documents that show Britain’s involvement in judging Russia. The allegations were dismissed by the UK Foreign Office as “completely unfounded”.
In an interview with the BBC, UK defense analyst Justin Crump said Putin was scouting the new Labor government and the outgoing Biden administration.
“Finally Russia is already supplying weapons to the UK’s enemies, and is already engaged in ‘active means’ such as subversion, espionage, sabotage, and information/cyber operations against the interests of Nato members.
“This may be fast, but choosing to go to war with the whole of Nato is not something Russia can afford as it is only fighting Ukraine,” Mr Crump added.
And on Friday, the US announced new sanctions on the Russian news channel RT, accusing it of being a “de facto arm of the Russian intelligence apparatus”.
The top US official, Antony Blinken, told reporters that RT was part of a Russian-backed media network, which wanted to “undermine democracy in the United States”.
In response to American accusations that RT wanted to influence the election, RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan – who was approved by the US last week – said that they are high-quality teachers, adding that many RT employees studied in the US, and US funding.
The spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Maria Zakharova, said that there should be a “new job” in the US, of experts in the sanctions imposed on Russia.
Source link