Biden, Starmer set to meet as Ukraine pushes to ease weapons restrictions

 Ukraine’s push to ease restrictions on the use of weapons from the US and Britain will be discussed on Friday in White House talks between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Ukraine wants approval to use some weapons to strike deeper into Russia and there are signs Biden might shift US policy in response. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons would put NATO at war with Moscow.

While the issue is expected to be at the top of the agenda for the meeting, it appeared unlikely that Biden and Starmer would announce any policy changes at this time, according to two US officials familiar with planning for the talks. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the private deliberations.

During this week’s visit to Kyiv by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Ukrainian officials renewed their pleas to use Western-provided long-range missiles against targets deeper inside Russia.

Blinken said he had “no doubt” that Biden and Starmer would discuss the matter, noting the US has adapted and “will adjust as necessary” as Russia’s battlefield strategy has changed.

Blinken spoke similarly in May, shortly before the US allowed Ukraine to use American-provided weapons just inside Russian territory. The permitted distance has been largely limited to cross-border targets deemed a direct threat, out of concerns about further escalating the conflict.

Biden also has hinted that a change could be afoot. In an exchange with reporters this week about whether he was ready to ease weapons restrictions on Ukraine, he responded, “We’re working that out now.”

Putin said Thursday that allowing long-range strikes “would mean that NATO countries, the United States, and European countries are at war with Russia. … If this is so, then, bearing in mind the change in the very essence of this conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats that will be created for us.”

His remarks were in line with the narrative the Kremlin has promoted since early in the Ukraine war, accusing NATO countries of de-facto participation in the conflict and threatening a response.

Earlier in the year, Putin warned that Russia could provide long-range weapons to others to strike Western targets in response to NATO allies allowing Ukraine to use their arms to attack Russian territory, saying it “would mark their direct involvement in the war against the Russian Federation, and we reserve the right to act the same way”.

Starmer, in response to Putin’s comments Thursday, said on his way to the US that Britain does not seek any conflict with Russia. “Russia started this conflict,” Starmer said. “Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia could end this conflict straight away.”

He added: “Ukraine has the right to self-defense and we’ve obviously been absolutely fully supportive of Ukraine’s right to self-defense — we’re providing training capability, as you know.”

“But we don’t seek any conflict with Russia — that’s not our intention in the slightest,” Starmer said.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has pressed US and allied military leaders to go much further. He argues that the US must allow Ukraine to target Russian air bases and launch sites far from the border as Russia has stepped up assaults on Ukraine’s electricity grid and utilities before the winter.

Zelenskyy also wants more long-range weaponry from Washington, including the Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, for strikes in Russia.

ATACMS would not be the answer to the main threat Ukraine faces from long-range Russian glide bombs, which are being fired from more than 300 kilometers (185 miles) away, beyond the ATACMS’ reach, said Lt. Col. Charlie Dietz, Pentagon spokesperson.

American officials also do not believe they have enough of the weapon systems available to provide Ukraine with the number to make a substantive difference to conditions on the ground, one of the US officials said.

During a meeting of allied defense ministers last week, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said he did not believe providing Ukraine with long-range weapon systems would be a game-changer. He noted that Ukraine has already been able to strike inside Russia with its own internally produced systems, including drones.

“I don’t believe one capability is going to be decisive, and I stand by that comment,” Austin said. “As of right now, the policy has not changed,” Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said Thursday.

Starmer said he was visiting Washington for “strategic meetings to discuss Ukraine and to discuss the Middle East.” It’s the prime minister’s second meeting with Biden since his centre-left government was elected in July.

It comes after Britain last week diverged from the US by suspending some arms exports to Israel because of the risk they could be used to break international law.

Their meeting also comes before this month’s annual meeting of global leaders at the UN General Assembly. The White House talks were scheduled in part to help Biden and Starmer compare notes on the war in Ukraine, the languishing efforts to get a cease-fire deal in Gaza, mutual concerns in the Indo-Pacific, and other issues before the UN meeting.

The White House also has tried in recent days to put a greater emphasis on the nexus between the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East that was sparked after Iranian-backed Hamas militants in Gaza launched attacks on Israel on October 7.

The Biden administration said this week that Iran recently delivered short-range ballistic weapons to Russia to use against Ukraine, a transfer that White House officials worry will allow Russia to use more of its arsenal for targets far beyond the Ukrainian front line while employing Iranian warheads for closer-range targets.

In turn, the US administration says Russia has been tightening its relationship with Iran, including by providing it with nuclear and space technology.

“This is obviously deeply concerning,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said of the missile transfer. “And it certainly speaks to the manner in which this partnership threatens European security and how it illustrates Iran’s destabilizing influence now reaches well beyond the Middle East.