Britain will not help Ukraine hit targets in Russia, the defence secretary has said, as Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealed directly to the cabinet to use British-made weapons more freely.
John Healey did not rule out accepting the Ukrainian president’s request to use British-made missiles against Russian territory, but added that Britain would not be involved in any such attacks.
Healey was speaking hours before Zelenskiy spoke at an extraordinary meeting of the British cabinet on Friday, the first foreign leader to do so in nearly 30 years.
The defence secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We’re providing weapons to Ukraine for their defence of their sovereign country. And that does not preclude them hitting targets in Russia, but that must be done by the Ukrainians. It must be done within the parameters and the bounds of international humanitarian law.”
Keir Starmer had previously indicated Ukraine would be able to use the Storm Shadow missiles against targets in Russia, but only for “defensive” purposes. The prime minister said last week: “It is for defensive purposes, but it is for Ukraine to decide how to deploy it for those defensive purposes.”
Zelenskiy spoke to the cabinet on Friday to appeal to ministers to use Storm Shadow missiles against Russian targets. He also urged ministers to help build up Europe’s defence industrial base, as leaders around the world adjust to the possibility of a second, more isolationist, Trump administration.
Downing Street said afterwards British ministers had “reaffirmed their commitment to supporting Ukraine on all fronts – from military and financial support, to ensuring that Ukrainians living here are supported and feel Britain’s central message that we are all united behind them”.
Officials added that in a separate conversation, Starmer and Zelenskiy had discussed making sure western weapons reached the Ukrainian frontlines as soon as possible. Zelenskiy told the BBC on Thursday night Ukraine had still not received F-16 fighter jets, despite them having been promised 18 months ago.
The Ukrainian president also said he believed Starmer would remain as committed to his country’s cause as the previous government had been.
“I don’t think Britain’s position would change,” he said. “But I would like for Prime Minister Starmer to become special – speaking about international politics, about defending world security, about the war in Ukraine.”
Speaking as Donald Trump prepared to give his keynote speech at the Republican national convention in Milwaukee, Zelenskiy said dealing with a second Trump administration would be “hard work … But we are hard workers.”
Starmer is expected to promise his Ukrainian counterpart the UK will do more to tackle the growing “phantom fleet” of tankers carrying Russian oil around the world.
The two countries are to sign a defence export support treaty to boost weapons supplies to the battlefield, including a £3.5bn support package for Ukraine’s armed forces.
Healey said: “We’ll also be signing a treaty in Downing Street which makes export finance available to British companies to boost industrial production directed towards Ukraine and also to replenishing our own British stockpiles.
“And that really is a reflection of the fact that this is a war of industrial production, not just a war of forces on the battlefield.”
Starmer and the Irish taoiseach, Simon Harris, have expressed interest in providing bomb shelters for schools after Zelenskiy appealed to European leaders gathered in the UK on Thursday to help protect children returning to school after the summer.
