WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are set to meet on Friday amid a intensified pressure from Ukraine to ease restrictions over the use of weapons supplied by the U.S. and Britain to attack Russia. The talks come amid signs that the White House may be moving toward a policy shift.
Ukrainian officials reiterated their calls to deploy Western-supplied long-range missiles against targets deeper inside Russia during this week’s visit to Kiev by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy. Blinken said he had “no doubt” that Biden and Starmer are said to be discussing the issue During their visit, they noted that the US has adapted and “will adapt as necessary” as Russian battlefield strategy has changed.
The language is similar to what Blinken said in May, shortly before the US allowed Ukraine to US-supplied weapons just inside Russian territoryThe standoff has largely been limited to cross-border targets considered an immediate threat, amid concerns about further escalation of the conflict.
While the issue is expected to be at the top of the leaders’ agenda, it appears unlikely that Biden and Starmer will announce any policy changes during this week’s visit, according to two US officials familiar with the leaders’ talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
Beyond Blinken, Biden has also suggested that change is coming. In a call with reporters earlier this week about whether he was prepared to ease arms restrictions on Ukraine, he replied: “We’re working on that now.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pressuring U.S. and allied military leaders to go much further, arguing that the U.S. Allow Ukraine to attack Russian air bases and launch pads far from the border as Russia has scaled up attacks on Ukraine’s electricity grid and utilities for the coming winter.
Zelenskyy also wants more long-range weapons from the United States, including the Army Tactical Missile System, better known as ATACMS, for attacks on Russia.
According to Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Charlie Dietz, ATACMS is not the answer to the biggest threat to Ukraine, namely Russian long-range glide bombs, which are fired from a distance of more than 300 kilometers (185 miles).
U.S. officials also do not believe they have sufficient weapons systems to provide Ukraine with enough weapons to make a meaningful difference in conditions on the ground, one of the U.S. officials said.
During a meeting of allied defense ministers Last week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he did not believe that delivering long-range weapons systems to Ukraine would be a game-changer in the grueling war. He noted that Ukraine has already been able to strike inside Russia with its own domestically produced systems, including drones.
“I don’t believe that any one capability is going to be decisive, and I stand by that statement,” Austin said.
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder declined to say Thursday whether Austin’s views had changed since last week: “At this point, the policy has not changed.”
Starmer said he was visiting Washington for “strategic meetings to discuss Ukraine and the Middle East.” It is the prime minister’s second meeting with Biden since his centre-left government was elected in July.
This comes after Britain distanced itself from the US last week by the suspension of some arms exports to Israel because of the risk that they could be used to violate international law. Both countries have downplayed their differences on the issue.
The meeting between Biden and Starmer also comes ahead of the annual gathering of world leaders this month at the United Nations General Assembly. The meeting in the Oval Office was planned in part to help the two leaders compare notes on the war in Ukraine amid efforts to ceasefire in gaza and other issues ahead of the UN meeting.
The White House has also tried in recent days to put more emphasis on the connection between the war in Ukraine and conflict in the Middle East was sparked after Iranian-backed Hamas militants in Gaza carried out attacks on Israel on October 7.
The Biden administration said this week that Iran recently supplied Russia with short-range ballistic weapons to be used against Ukraine. White House officials fear that this would allow Russia to use more of its arsenal on targets far beyond the Ukrainian front lines, while Iranian warheads are deployed on targets closer to home.
The US government, in turn, says Russia has strengthened relations with Iran, including by supplying the country with nuclear and space technology.
“This is clearly very troubling,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said of the missile transfer. “And it certainly speaks volumes about how this partnership threatens European security and how it illustrates that Iran’s destabilizing influence now extends well beyond the Middle East.”
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AP reporters Tara Copp in Washington, Jill Lawless in London and Matthew Lee in Warsaw, Poland, contributed.