Keir Starmer plays down significance of Storm Shadow decision for Ukraine

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The progress of the war in Ukraine will not be “about a sole issue like long-range missiles”, Sir Keir Starmer has insisted, as he is expected to launch a new round of talks with the US about whether to approve Kyiv’s use of such weapons in Russia.

The UK prime minister played down the significance of the looming decision as he flew to New York on Tuesday to attend the UN General Assembly.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also in the US this week to address the high-level meeting and to present the “victory plan” that he hopes will end the war to US President Joe Biden.

Starmer flew to Washington this month for bilateral talks with Biden at the White House, which focused heavily on whether to acquiesce to Kyiv’s desire to use western-supplied Storm Shadow missiles in Russia. Those discussions ended without resolution.

Biden said on Sunday that he had not yet taken a decision on the matter. Storm Shadows are made by the UK and France but use US navigational data and other technology.

Kyiv wants to be able to use the long-range weapons to destroy the Russian air bases and bomber fleets that carry out attacks on its territory, as well as Russian ammunition depots, troop concentrations and command and control centres.

The UK prime minister told reporters on Tuesday night: “I don’t think the victory plan will be about a sole issue like long-range missiles. It will be about a strategic, overarching route for Ukraine to find a way through this and succeed against Russian aggression.”

Asked when a decision will be made about whether Ukraine can use Storm Shadow missiles in Russia, Starmer said: “We will have discussions about a whole range of issues, and we will listen carefully to what President Zelenskyy’s got to say, and that’s what’s going to happen in the next few days.”

Starmer insisted that Britain’s “support for Ukraine is resolute”, adding: “We supplied quite a lot of capability already under the last government; we’ve increased that under this government . . . and we will always listen very carefully to what Ukraine says it needs by way of capability.”

Playing to US fears about escalation, President Vladimir Putin said this month that the west would be in direct conflict with Russia if it allowed Ukraine to carry out strikes on Russian territory with western missiles — a move he said would alter the nature and scope of the war.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin’s statement was “extremely clear, unambiguous and does not allow for double readings”.