British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.S. President Joseph Biden on Friday delayed a decision on whether to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles it has received from Western countries to attack Russian territory - a plan that has prompted serious threats from Moscow to a Russian war with NATO follows.
Starmer told reporters at the White House that he had very "comprehensive discussions about strategy" with Biden, but that it was not a meeting "about specific capacity."
Ahead of the meeting, officials announced that Starmer would press Biden to support his plan to send Britain's Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine so it can carry out strikes deeper inside Russia, as allied concerns grow over the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield.
However, the Labor leader hinted that he and Bijen would discuss the plan at the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week, with a "larger group of individuals".
As Biden and Starmer spoke to aides at the White House, Biden did not want to make much of Russian President Vladimir Putin's warning that allowing Ukraine to use Western long-range weapons in Russia would mean the West was "at war" with Russia.
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"I don't think much about Vladimir Putin," Biden said when reporters asked him about the Russian president's comments.
However, while Biden said that "it is clear that Putin is not going to win this war", it is believed that the US president is not yet ready to give in to Ukraine's insistence that it be allowed to use US-made ATACMS long-range missiles on Russian territory.
US officials believe that the use of these missiles would not make much of a difference in Ukraine's military campaign, and they also want to ensure that the US stockpile of weapons is not depleted.
The two leaders say they also discussed the war in Gaza. Britain recently suspended arms deliveries to Israel over fears they could be used in situations that would violate international humanitarian law.
The United States of America, which is Israel's main military and diplomatic ally, has not yet decided to take that step.
Biden and Starmer agreed that they were "strongly committed" to Israel, but stressed the "urgent need" to reach a ceasefire agreement, and that there was a need for "Israel to do more to protect civilians" in Gaza, the White House said in a statement. home after the meeting.
Ahead of the Biden-Starmer meeting, the White House indicated that there would be no major announcement regarding the decision on Ukraine's use of long-range weapons.
"There is no change in our position on providing long-range strike capabilities for Ukraine to use inside Russia. I don't expect any significant announcement in that regard," said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.
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