British Prime Minister Kir Starmer has told Vladimir Putin that he started the war in Ukraine and can end it at any time, after the Russian leader warned that any attack by long-range British missiles on Russian territory would lead NATO to war with his country.
Starmer was speaking on his way to Washington, where he is meeting with US President Joe Biden, to justify this decision, made behind closed doors, which would allow Ukraine to attack targets inside Russia using British Storm Shadow missiles, the Guardian reports.
"Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia can immediately end this conflict. Ukraine has the right to self-defense," Starmer responded to Putin's threats.
He added that the UK had provided "training and capabilities" - related to weapons - to help Ukraine repel a Russian invasion and stressed that his meeting with the US president was arranged in part because there were "further discussions about the nature of those capacity".
A day earlier, the Guardian revealed that the US and UK, in agreement with other allies, had agreed to allow Ukraine to attack military targets inside Russia using Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of at least 190 miles, a long-held desire of Kiev.
On Thursday, Putin said that any Western move to allow Kiev to use these long-range missiles against targets inside Russia would mean NATO is at war with Moscow - a dramatic escalation of his war rhetoric that began with Russia's February 2022 invasion.
"This would significantly change the very nature of the conflict. It would mean that NATO countries, the USA, European countries, are at war with Russia," Putin told state television, stressing that Russia will make appropriate decisions in accordance with the threats it will face. face as a result.
Starmer was speaking on a flight to Washington, where he will attend a special foreign policy summit with Biden on Friday. The Prime Minister said he would not comment directly on the Storm Shadow missiles.
"In the coming weeks and months, there will probably be very important events, both in Ukraine and in the Middle East, so a number of tactical decisions need to be made," the prime minister said.
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, went a step further on Thursday night, saying the UK and US should give Ukraine the weapons it needs to defeat Russia. "This is a crucial period in the fight because we are putting things in place to prevent Russia from gaining an advantage over the winter," he told The Daily Telegraph during a visit to Kiev.
"We are also here, of course, at a time when it is crystal clear that Russia is escalating with the help of its friend Iran, receiving a shipment of ballistic missiles. Ballistic missiles that will be used over the winter, unfortunately, against the Ukrainian people and that will cost lives. That's why we here to understand how we can put the Ukrainians in a position to win and what is needed for that," he pointed out.
Ukraine has lobbied for months for the use of Storm Shadow missiles and US Atacms missiles, complaining that while Moscow has been able to continuously bomb targets across Ukraine since the start of the war, it has been barred from hitting military targets inside Russia.
Starmer emphasized that the purpose of his trip, during which he will have about three hours of talks with Biden on Friday, is a strategic discussion on Ukraine, Gaza and other foreign policy issues.
But he added that he was not there to try to impose a peace deal on Ukraine. "At the end of the day, that's a discussion President Zelenski has to have," Starmer said. Instead, he stressed that "it is very important that two key allies" discuss foreign policy issues among themselves and have the space to do so.
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