British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has arrived in Washington where he will on Friday meet US President Joe Biden to discuss whether to let Kyiv use long-range missiles against Russia.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has arrived in Washington where he will on meet US President Joe Biden to discuss whether to let Kyiv use long-range missiles against Russia, late Friday night SA time.
It is likely their last meeting before an election that could upend US policy on Ukraine.
Kyiv is pushing Washington and London to lift a restriction on firing arms made by those countries, with Russian President Vladimir Putin warning that giving Ukraine the green light would mean NATO was « at war » with Moscow.
British media reported that Biden, who is wary of provoking a nuclear conflict, was ready to let Ukraine deploy British and French missiles using US technology – but not US-made missiles themselves.
Responding to Putin’s warning, Starmer told UK media travelling with him that « Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia can end this conflict straight away. »
The talks come at a time when Biden is on his way out of office and November’s US election is a toss-up between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.
Trump repeatedly refused to take sides on the war during a debate with Harris on Tuesday, saying only: « I want the war to stop. »
Starmer is set to meet Biden in the Oval Office at 22:30 SAST, but has no scheduled meetings at this stage with Trump or Harris, both of whom will be on the campaign trail on Friday.
