Former UK official says Kyiv’s use of long-range missiles could escalate conflict

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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer left Washington after talks with US President Joe Biden on Friday amid signs the US could be preparing to change its stance on Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles in the coming days.

Although the meeting between the two leaders ended without any announcement, there were signs that Biden may be ready to UK and France allowed Ukraine to use their Storm Shadow missiles, based on US positioning data and other technology.

“This is not about a specific decision… we will clearly choose [it] up again [at the UN General Assembly] in just a few days with a wider group of individuals,” Starmer told reporters after the meeting.

Some officials predict that Washington will eventually allow Ukraine to use the US-supplied Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS).

The United States has remained reluctant to provide weapons despite repeated requests from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, fearing that the deployment could escalate the conflict with Russia.

“There has been no change in our position on providing long-range strike capabilities for Ukraine to use inside Russia, and I do not expect any major announcements on that issue to come out of the discussions,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said ahead of Friday’s summit.

But Washington regularly supplies Ukraine with weapons it previously said it would not provide, and some in the Biden administration are pressuring him to give Kyiv access to those missiles.

Ahead of his meeting with Starmer, Biden said: “The United States is committed to standing with you to help Ukraine defend its country against Russia’s onslaught. It is clear that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will not win this war. The Ukrainian people will win.”

Earlier on Friday, Sir Kim Darroch, the former British national security adviser, warned that allowing Ukraine to fire long-range Storm Shadow missiles at Russia risked significantly escalating the conflict.

Darroch, a former ambassador to Washington, said Western allies should think carefully about Putin’s warning this week that deploying long-range weapons against targets inside Russia would mean NATO would be “at war” with Moscow.

“We really don’t want to escalate this,” Darroch told the Financial Times.

Asked about Putin’s threats, Biden said Friday, “I don’t think much about Vladimir Putin.”

Starmer has said it will amount to Ukraine how to use weapons provided by allies — including the Anglo-French Storm Shadow cruise missile — as long as they are used for defensive purposes and in accordance with international law.

But Darroch said Putin’s previous failure to carry out threats of retaliation when the West supplied battle tanks and missiles to Ukraine did not mean the same would happen with cruise missile strikes on his territory.

“If they believe he’s lying, fine,” he said. “But he’s going to lie until he doesn’t lie anymore.”

Darroch added that he did not believe the use of Storm Shadow missiles to attack targets in Russia would be a decisive factor in the war.

Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, said on Friday that if the West allowed Kyiv to launch air strikes deep into its country, NATO countries would “wage direct war on Russia”.

“The fact is that NATO would be directly involved in hostilities against a nuclear power,” he told the UN Security Council. “I think you should not forget this and think about the consequences.”

British diplomats said a final decision on whether to allow Kyiv to expand its military operations in Russia was likely to be made at a General Assembly meeting later this month.

Starmer and Biden are expected to be in New York for meetings alongside other Western allies and Zelenskyy.

The Ukrainian president has lobbied Western allies to allow the use of ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles against targets inside Russia.

“Anyone who looks at a map of where Russia conducts airstrikes, trains forces, maintains reserves, locates military facilities and uses logistics understands why Ukraine needs long-range capabilities,” he said on x on Friday.

The UK was the first country to send long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine and has long taken a more hands-off approach to how it deploys the weapons it supplies. Defense insiders say it would like to do the same with the Storm Shadows — if it can strike a deal with Kyiv’s other backers.