Sir Keir Starmer defiantly stared down a threat of retaliation by Vladimir Putin as he flew out to Washington DC for talks with Joe Biden on the Ukraine war.
The prime minister and the US president are believed to be on the cusp of allowing Kyiv to open up a new front in the war with Russia by using Western Storm Shadow long-range missiles. But in a message apparently timed for when Sir Keir and his entourage were over the Atlantic on their way to the US, president Putin said such a move would mean that Russia would be “at war with Nato”.
“So this is not a question of allowing the Ukrainian regime to strike Russia with these weapons or not. It is a question of deciding whether or not Nato countries are directly involved in a military conflict,” Mr Putin told Russian state TV.
But a determined prime minister told journalists on the flight: “First, to reiterate, it was Russia who started this in the first place. They caused the conflict, they’re the ones who are acting unlawfully. And Ukraine obviously has the right to self-defence. That is why we have been providing training and capability. And, you know, there are obviously further discussions to be had about the nature of that capability.
“What I want to do is make sure that those discussions, tactical discussions, are set in the proper strategic context of the situation in Ukraine. And there are, equally, tactical issues in relation to the Middle East, which need to be set in a context which is strategic, not just tactical.”
The bilateral summit has been carefully choreographed with foreign secretary David Lammy and US secretary of state Antony Blinken making a joint visit to Kyiv this week. It is understood that the prime minister and the president want to thrash out a long-term victory plan for Ukraine.
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