US President Joe Biden has reacted with marked calm to threats from Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin regarding a possible Ukrainian use of wide-ranging Western weapons against targets in Russia. When asked by a reporter what he thought about the Russian president’s latest threats, Biden said at a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the White House that he does not think very much about Putin. At the same time, Biden stressed that the Kremlin chief will not win the war, but Ukraine.
Putin had said that the use of long-range Western precision weapons against targets deep on Russian territory should be viewed as NATO’s participation in the war. “This will mean that NATO countries, the USA, and European countries will fight with Russia,” the Kremlin chief said in response to a question from a journalist on state television in St. Petersburg. Russia’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya referred to Russia’s nuclear weapons in the United Nations Security Council.
At the meeting with Starmer, Biden wanted to discuss Ukraine’s desire to use long-range Western weapons against targets in the Russian hinterland. However, the White House had previously dampened expectations that there could be an announcement from the US on this after the meeting. There was no change in the US government’s position on this issue, it said.
Ukraine wants to use Western weapons in the Russian hinterland
Western-backed Ukraine has long been demanding that the US and Britain allow the deployment of long-range missiles in Russia’s hinterland. Its stated aim is to disrupt Russian logistics and attack air force airfields far behind the Russian-Ukrainian border.
According to official statements, the USA is limiting the use of its weapons against Russia to defending against the Russian offensive against the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. The British government has not yet commented specifically on the question of what exactly it is allowing Ukraine to do with the Storm Shadow cruise missiles it has made available.
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