Ukraine Invasion: Starmer To Putin: It’s Russia’s War To Stop
UK PM responds to Putin’s threat that use of long-range British missiles inside Russia would put it at war with NATO
United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Keir Starmer has told his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin that he started the war in Ukraine and could end it at any time.
Starmer made the comments after the Russian leader warned that any use of long-range British missiles into Russian territory would put NATO at war with his country.
The Prime Minister spoke en route to Washington to see US President Joe Biden as he sought to justify a Western decision made behind closed doors that would allow Ukraine to attack inside Russia with partly British-made Storm Shadow missiles.
Responding directly to threats earlier by the Russian President that use of long-range British missiles inside Russia would put it at war with NATO, Starmer told reporters; “Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia can end this conflict straight away. Ukraine has the right to self-defence.”
He said the UK had provided “training and capability”, a reference to weapons, to help Ukraine repel the Russian invasion, adding that he was visiting the US President partly because “there are obviously further discussions about the nature of that capability”.
It is already public knowledge that the US and UK had agreed, in conjunction with other allies, to allow Ukraine to strike military targets inside Russia with Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of at least 190 miles, a longstanding demand of Kyiv’s military authorities.
However, on Thursday, Putin said any Western move to let Kyiv use such longer-range weapons against targets inside Russia would mean NATO would be “at war” with Moscow, a dramatic escalation of his rhetoric about the war which began with the Russian invasion in February 2022.
“This would in a significant way change the very nature of the conflict,” Putin told a state television reporter. “It would mean that Nato countries, the US, European countries, are at war with Russia,” he said.
According to him, Russia would make “appropriate decisions based on the threats that we will face” as a result.
Starmer was speaking on a plane to Washington DC as he headed for a special foreign policy summit with Biden on Friday.
The Prime Minister said he would not comment on Storm Shadow directly, but added he wanted to ensure that “all the decisions we made are within the strategic context” by discussing the issues with his US counterpart at the White House on Friday afternoon.
“There are really important developments likely in the next few weeks and months, both in Ukraine and the Middle East, and therefore several tactical decisions ought to be taken,” the Prime Minister added.
The foreign Secretary, David Lammy appeared to go a step further on Thursday night, saying Britain and the US should give Ukraine the weapons it needs to defeat Russia.
“This is a crucial period in the fight because you are setting things up to stop Russia getting the advantage over winter,” he told the Daily Telegraph while visiting Kyiv.
“We are here also, of course, at a time when it is crystal clear Russia is escalating with its friend Iran, taking a consignment of ballistic missiles. Ballistic missiles that will be used in the winter, sadly, against the Ukrainian people and which will cost lives.
“So, of course, we’re here to strategise, to understand how we can put Ukrainians in a position to win and what is needed.”
Ukraine has been lobbying to use Storm Shadow and US-made Atacms missiles for many months, complaining that while Moscow has been able to repeatedly bomb targets across Ukraine since the start of the war, it has been prevented from hitting military targets inside Russia. – With The Guardian report