Biden and Starmer are set to meet as Ukraine pushes to ease weapons restrictions

By AAMER MADHANI and MATTHEW LEE

Eds: UPDATES: Updates with Russia saying it would expel six British diplomats, Zelenskyy post. Minor edits. Trims.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukraine’s push to ease restrictions on the use of weapons from the United States and Britain will be discussed Friday in White House talks between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Ukraine and many of its supporters in the U.S. and Europe want Biden to let Kyiv use the weapons to strike military targets deeper inside Russia, and there are signs Biden might shift U.S. policy. Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened that Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons would put NATO at war with Moscow.

Two U.S. officials familiar with discussions about the weapons said they believe Starmer will seek Biden’s approval to allow Ukraine to use British Storm Shadow missiles for expanded strikes in Russia. Biden's approval is needed because Storm Shadow components are made in the U.S. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to share the status of private conversations, said they believed Biden would be amenable.

No announcement on a decision was expected Friday, several U.S. officials said.

During this week’s visit to Kyiv by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Ukrainian officials renewed their pleas to use Western-provided long-range missiles against targets deeper inside Russia.

Blinken said he had “no doubt” that Biden and Starmer would discuss the matter, noting the U.S. has adapted and “will adjust as necessary” as Russia’s battlefield strategy has changed.

Blinken spoke similarly in May, shortly before the U.S. allowed Ukraine to use American-provided weapons just inside Russian territory. The permitted distance has been largely limited to cross-border targets deemed a direct threat out of concern about further escalating the conflict.

Biden also has hinted that a change could be afoot. In an exchange with reporters this week about whether he was ready to ease weapons restrictions on Ukraine, he responded, “We’re working that out now.”

Putin said Thursday that allowing long-range strikes “would mean that NATO countries, the United States and European countries, are at war with Russia.” His remarks were in line with the narrative the Kremlin has promoted since early in the war, accusing NATO countries of de-facto participation in the conflict and threatening a response.

Starmer said Thursday on his way to the U.S. that Britain does not seek conflict with Russia.

“Ukraine has the right to self-defense, and we’ve obviously been absolutely fully supportive of Ukraine’s right to self-defense," he added.

On Friday, Russia accused six British diplomats of spying and said it would expel them. Starmer’s government called the accusation baseless and linked it to Britain’s expulsion of Moscow’s defense attache in London over spying allegations in May.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pressed U.S. and allied military leaders to allow his forces to use Western weapons to target Russian air bases and launch sites far from the border as Russia has stepped up assaults on Ukraine’s electricity grid and utilities before winter.

“The war must become more difficult for Russia — that is the only way to make them realize it must end," he posted Friday on social media.

Zelenskyy's appeal has garnered support in U.S. and European security and diplomatic circles, including from some former U.S. generals and diplomats, lawmakers and security analysts. They argue that Russia's previous threats of escalation against the West have proven hollow and that the U.S. restrictions on weapons are making it impossible for Ukraine to gain the battlefield momentum it needs.

Even a few Ukrainian strikes with heavier weapons on military targets deeper into Russia would put more strain on Russian logistics, troops and other resources, said George Barros, a security analyst for the Institute for the Study of War.

Zelenskyy also wants more long-range weaponry from Washington, including the Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, for strikes in Russia.

Lt. Col. Charlie Dietz, a Pentagon spokesperson, said ATACMS would not be the answer to the main threat Ukraine faces from long-range Russian glide bombs, which are being fired from more than 300 kilometers (185 miles) away, beyond the reach of ATACMS.

American officials also do not believe they have enough of the weapon systems available to provide Ukraine with the number to make a substantive difference 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 providing Ukraine with long-range weapon systems would be a game-changer. He noted that Ukraine has already been able to strike inside Russia with its own internally produced systems, including drones.

Starmer, meeting with Biden for the second time since his center-left government was elected in July, said he was visiting Washington for strategic meetings focusing on Ukraine and the Middle East. Britain last week diverged from the U.S. by suspending some arms exports to Israel because of the risk they could be used to break international law.

The White House talks were scheduled in part to help Biden and Starmer compare notes on the war in Ukraine, the languishing efforts to get a cease-fire deal in Gaza, mutual concerns in the Indo-Pacific and other issues before this month's annual meeting of global leaders at the U.N. General Assembly.

The White House also has tried in recent days to put a greater emphasis on the nexus between the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East that was sparked after Iranian-backed Hamas militants in Gaza attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

The Biden administration said this week that Iran recently delivered short-range ballistic weapons to Russia to use against Ukraine, a transfer that White House officials worry will allow Russia to use more of its arsenal for targets far beyond the Ukrainian front line while employing Iranian warheads for closer-range targets.

“This is obviously deeply concerning,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said. “And it certainly speaks to the manner in which this partnership threatens European security and how it illustrates Iran’s destabilizing influence now reaches well beyond the Middle East.”

___

Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London, Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, and Ellen Knickmeyer and Tara Copp in Washington contributed.