British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer made no decision on allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles to strike targets inside Russia after talks with US President Joe Biden in Washington.
Asked if he had persuaded Biden to allow Ukraine to fire long-range Storm Shadow missiles at Russia, Sir Keir said they had had “a long and productive discussion on many fronts, including Ukraine, as you would expect, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific”.
The White House said it also expressed “deep concern about Iran and North Korea’s provision of lethal weapons to Russia”.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Western countries not to let Ukraine fire long-range missiles at Russia.
Putin said such a move would represent NATO’s “direct involvement” in the Ukrainian war.
Speaking to reporters ahead of a meeting with Sir Keir at the White House, Biden said: “I don’t think much about Vladimir Putin.”
So far, the United States and Britain have not granted Ukraine permission to use long-range missiles against targets inside Russia for fear of escalating tensions.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called on Kyiv’s Western allies to allow such use, saying it is the only way to end the war.
Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainian cities and frontlines have been subjected to daily shelling from Russia.
Multiple rockets and glide bombs targeting Ukrainian military positions, apartment complexes, energy facilities and hospitals were launched from Russian aircraft deep inside Russia.
Kyiv said not being allowed to attack the bases that launched these attacks would hamper its ability to defend itself.
Britain has previously said Ukraine has a “clear right” to use British-supplied weapons in “self-defence”, which “does not preclude operations inside Russia”, following Kyiv’s surprise cross-border incursion last month.
However, this does not include the use of long-range Storm Shadow missiles on territory outside Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders.
Earlier this year, the United States provided long-range missiles to Ukraine, but like Kyiv’s other Western allies, these missiles are not authorized for use against targets deep inside Russian territory.
Asked if he was intimidated by Putin’s threat of a potential war with Nato, Sir Keir said the “quickest way to resolve” the war in Ukraine “is through what Putin actually does”.
Sir Keir said the White House meeting with Biden was an opportunity to discuss strategy regarding Ukraine, “not just a particular move or tactic”.
The pair also discussed the situation in the Middle East, where the war between Israel and Gaza has been going on for almost a year, and “other parts of the world”, Sir Keir added.
They will have another chance to discuss these issues at the United Nations General Assembly next week, he told reporters.
In a separate press briefing on Friday, ahead of the two leaders’ meeting, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Washington had no plans to change any of the restrictions it placed on Ukraine’s use of US-made weapons to attack Russian territory.
Earlier on Friday, Moscow expels six British diplomatsrevoked their operating licenses and accused them of espionage.
The country’s security service, the FSB, said in a statement that it had received documents showing British involvement in causing Russia’s “strategic defeat”. The allegations were dismissed by the UK Foreign Office as “completely baseless”.
In an interview with the BBC, British defence analyst Justin Crump said Putin was testing the new Labour government and the outgoing Biden administration.
“Finally, Russia has supplied weapons to the UK’s adversaries and has engaged in ‘active measures’ such as subversion, espionage, sabotage and information/cyber operations against the interests of NATO members.
“It could happen faster, but going to war with all of NATO is not something Russia can accept because they are struggling so much with Ukraine alone,” Mr. Crump added.
Also on Friday, the United States announced new sanctions against Russia’s RT media channel, accusing the channel of being “a de facto arm of the Russian intelligence apparatus.”
The top US diplomat, Antony Blinken, told reporters that RT was part of a network of Russian-backed media outlets that had sought to covertly “undermine democracy in the United States.”
Responding to US allegations that RT sought to influence the election, RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan – who was sanctioned by the US last week – said they were excellent teachers, adding that many RT staff had studied in the US and received US funding.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said there is a need for a “new profession” in the United States, that of an expert on sanctions imposed on Russia.
