UK PM and French President to Talk with Biden Allowing Ukraine to Strike Deep Inside Russia
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron will meet on Monday to discuss the possibility of persuading US President Joe Biden to allow Ukraine to launch Storm Shadow missiles against targets deep inside Russia, The Telegraph reports.
London hopes that Biden will finally give permission for long-range strikes against Russia, which Kyiv has been seeking for several months.
‘We really want to make sure that we make the most of the time between now and 20 January (when Trump becomes US president), and not just put it off until the next administration,’ a British government source told The Telegraph.
The debate over whether Ukraine should be allowed to launch Storm Shadow missiles deep into Russian territory has been going on behind the scenes for several months.
Currently, Ukraine is only allowed to use the missiles on Russian territory in limited circumstances, such as to strike troops near the border, although the exact arrangements have never been made public.
Amid Russia's daily massive attacks on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been calling on allies and partners for months to allow strikes deep into Russia.
The publication notes that if Ukraine receives permission for long-range Storm Shadows strikes before Donald Trump takes office, it will be more difficult to cancel this permission.
It is also expected that British Prime Minister Starmer and French President Macron will discuss the implications of Donald Trump's upcoming presidency for the Middle East and the possibility of a trade war with Europe.
The White House said the day before that Joe Biden would talk about the need to support Ukraine until the end of his presidential term, amid the arrival of the Donald Trump administration.
As previously reported, the Biden Administration will accelerate the provision of approved defence aid to Ukraine in excess of $6 billion.