US President Joe Biden met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House to discuss support for Ukraine and Israel and security in the Indo-Pacific.
“The United States is committed to standing with you to help Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s onslaught of aggression. It is clear that Putin will not prevail in this war,” Biden told Starmer on Friday.
The meeting comes as Western allies consider changing policy to allow Ukraine to use long-range weapons supplied by the United States and Britain to attack Russian territory.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, were in kyiv earlier this weekwhere President Volodymyr Zelenskyy argued for the deployment of such weapons, including the US ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) and British Storm Shadow missiles to target Russia.
“Let’s count on some strong decisions at least. For us it is very important today,” Zelenskyy told reporters in kyiv on Wednesday, in response to whether transatlantic allies would give the green light to deeper attacks on Russia.
While in the Ukrainian capital, Blinken signaled that Washington has adapted and will “adjust as necessary” its support for Ukraine to meet Moscow’s shifting battlefield strategy. He used similar language in May, just before the Biden administration relaxed its restrictions to allow U.S. weapons to be used in cross-border strikes, but not on targets inside Russia.
Earlier this week, Biden signaled he is open to further relaxing restrictions, telling a reporter his administration was “working on that now.”
However, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Friday ahead of the meeting that there has been no change in U.S. policy on Ukraine’s long-range strike capability inside Russia. “I would not expect there to be any announcements on that at today’s meeting,” he said.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Ukraine has already been able to strike inside Russia with its own domestically produced systems, including drones. Speaking at a meeting of allied defense ministers last week, Austin said he did not believe providing Kiev with long-range strike capability would be “decisive” in the war.
The public back-and-forth and conflicting messages coming from different parts of the administration suggest a policy shift may be underway, said Dalibor Rohac, an expert on transatlantic relations.
“I think we will reach a point where the Ukrainians will use missiles deep inside Russian territory,” he told VOA. “The question is whether that will make a significant difference to the actual conduct of the war.”
Moscow has warned that arming Kiev with long-range weapons would escalate the conflict beyond Ukraine. On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that allowing long-range strikes “would mean that NATO countries, the United States and European countries are at war with Russia. … If this is so, then, taking into account the change in the very essence of this conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats that will be created for us.”
Asked about the Russian president’s threat against NATO, Biden said: “I don’t think much about Vladimir Putin.”
Biden and NATO allies should consider how much they are willing to risk by escalating the war to add more pressure on Russia, a nuclear power, said William Pomeranz, an expert on Russian studies at the Woodrow Wilson Center.
“I don’t think they know the answer yet,” he told the VOA.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Starmer said he and Biden had “arrived at a strong position” but sidestepped a question about long-range missiles for Ukraine.
“This was not a meeting about a particular capability. That was not the reason we put our heads down today,” he said. “It was to allow ourselves the space, which we took, the time to have a strategic discussion so that tactical decisions could be seen within the broader strategy.”
No British weapons for Israel
The leaders also discussed prospects for a ceasefire in the 11-month war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
“We will discuss our work to secure a Middle East settlement, free key hostages held by Hamas, achieve an immediate ceasefire, and increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” Biden said at the start of their meeting.
London is usually aligned with Washington in its support for Israel. Last week, however, Starmer’s government suspended arms export licenses to Israel for use in military operations in Gaza, following a Israel’s compliance review with international humanitarian law.
The Biden administration has resisted pressure from progressive Democrats and Muslim and Arab Americans to enact an arms embargo on Israel.
Around 30 licences for weapons used in the ongoing conflict in Gaza have been suspended out of a total of around 350 licences from the UK to Israel. The suspension came after months of protests at British arms factories.
The move is less drastic compared to other countries such as Belgium, Italy, Canada, Spain and the Netherlands, which have announced a total ban on arms exports to Israel in recent months for fear that the weapons could be used against Palestinian civilians.
UK defence exports to Israel are also relatively small, around $24 million in 2023.
Biden and Starmer also discussed the threat from Iran. In recent weeks, the White House has emphasized Iran’s role in conflicts in the Middle East and Europe.
The White House said Iran is not only Hamas’s main backer in its war against Israel, but is also providing short-range ballistic weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine.
The leaders expressed “deep concern about Iran and North Korea’s supply of lethal weapons to Russia and China’s support for Russia’s defense industrial base,” the White House said in a readout.to of the meeting.
Strategically aligned
Friday’s meeting is the second in-person engagement with Biden since Starmer took office in July.
“I think historically we have demonstrated the strength of our relationship, that we are strategically aligned. We have common cause on these global issues,” Starmer said.
“After a chaotic few years, during which the U.K. had five prime ministers in six years and was largely absent of effective diplomacy as it grappled with the fallout from the 2016 Brexit referendum, the new Labour government aims to reset relations with neighbors and allies,” said Peter Westmacott, a former British ambassador to the U.S., now with the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center.
“No doubt Democrats will also be interested in any tactical advice Starmer might have on how to win a general election,” he added.
There has been heightened concern in Europe about the future of transatlantic relations should former President Donald Trump beat Vice President Kamala Harris in the November election. Many worry that under Trump, who has expressed skepticism about NATO, U.S. support for Ukraine will falter.
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