Joe Biden and Sir Keir Starmer were on Friday evening holding talks over Ukraine amid renewed pressure from Volodymyr Zelensky to allow long-range Western missiles to be fired deep into Russia.
The US president was meeting with the Prime Minister in Washington as the pair weigh up whether to relax restrictions on the use of Western weaponry against Russian targets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday warned against such a move, saying it would represent Nato’s “direct participation” in the conflict and would mean the West was directly at war with Russia.
Concern about the war escalating has been one of the reasons why permission has not yet been given to Kyiv.
US President Joe Biden said in remarks in front of the media as the meeting began that "Putin will not prevail" in this invasion of Ukraine.
Two US officials familiar with discussions about the weapons said ahead of the meeting told the Associated Press they believed Sir Keir will seek President Biden’s approval at talks to allow Ukraine to use British Storm Shadow missiles for expanded strikes in Russia.
Biden’s approval is needed because Storm Shadow components are made in the US. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to share the status of private conversations, said they believed Biden would be amenable.
No announcement on a decision was expected on Friday, several US officials said.
Ukrainian President Zelensky again expressed his frustration at the continued restrictions on the use of Western weaponry against Russian targets on Friday ahead of the talks.
In a lengthy statement posted on X, Mr Zelensky said after meeting with Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his US counterpart Antony Blinken earlier this week, “there should be no unanswered questions about why Ukraine needs sufficient long-range capabilities”.
Kyiv wants to use the long-range missiles to stop the wave of “glide bombs” being launched at cities and towns in Ukraine by aircraft flying from air bases far away from the frontline.
In his statement, Mr Zelensky said: “When we ask for these systems, we repeatedly hear, ‘We are working on it’.
“Time passes, but Russian missiles and Iranian drones continue to terrorise our skies and our people.”
Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson backed granting their use at a meeting with Mr Zelensky on Friday, saying:“It is obvious that they should be able to use Storm Shadow, Scalp and ATACMS as fast as possible against targets in Russia itself. Every day that goes by means more pointless and tragic loss of Ukrainian lives.”
His words came after the current prime minister backed Ukraine’s right to defend itself as he travelled to the US but said Britain does not seek conflict with Russia.
“Ukraine has the right to self-defence, and we’ve obviously been absolutely fully supportive of Ukraine’s right to self-defence,” Sir Keir added.
On Friday, Russia accused six British diplomats of spying and said it would expel them. The Government called the accusation baseless and linked it to Britain’s expulsion of Moscow’s defense attache in London over spying allegations in May.
It came as Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said Vladimir Putin was “increasingly erratic” and “volatile” in his behaviour which is creating instability in the Ukraine region and around the world.
He said Joe Biden would be discussing the Russian president’s conduct at their meeting in Washington.
