Foreign Secretary David Lammy and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Ukraine together this week to reaffirm their commitment to supporting Kyiv in its war with Russia.
At a joint press conference in London on Tuesday, Blinken said one of the purposes of the trip was to hear from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on what the United States and UK can do to support Ukraine.
“We will be listening intently to our Ukrainian partners, we will both be reporting back to the prime minister, to president Biden in the coming days and I fully anticipate this is something they will take up when they meet on Friday,” Blinken said, referring to President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s meeting in Washington, where the pair are expected to discuss restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons within Russian territory.
Asked whether Ukraine would be allowed to use UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles to strike within Russia, Lammy said, “It’s hugely important that we’re travelling together to hear from our Ukrainian counterparts and president Zelensky their assessment of the situation on the ground and their needs on the ground.”
“It would, however, be quite wrong to comment on the detail of operational issues in a forum such as this, because the only person who could benefit is Putin, and we will do nothing to give him any advantage in his illegal invasion,” he added.
Zelenskyy has pushed for permission to strike targets within Russia using Western missiles, but Downing Street has previously said that government policy on the use of such weapons had not changed.
Iranian Missiles in Russia
During the bilateral meeting in London, Blinken announced that the United States would be deepening sanctions on Iran after accusing Tehran of sending ballistic missiles to Russia, which he says will likely be used on Ukraine within weeks.“The United States will be announcing further sanctions on Iran later today, including additional measures on Iran Air,” Blinken said, adding that he expected allies will also be announcing their own measures on Tehran, as well.
The U.S. secretary of state said Iran had been warned that providing ballistic missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine would “constitute a dramatic escalation.”
The Iranian missiles have a maximum range of 75 miles, meaning Russia will be able to target beyond the current front line and further into Ukrainian territory.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict began in 2014 when Moscow annexed Crimea and supported pro-Russian separatists fighting the Ukrainian military in the Donbas War.
The ‘Essential’ Relationship
Lammy said the joint trip was the “first of its kind for a decade,” with both the foreign secretary and U.S. secretary of state going as a show of continued solidarity.The announcements came during Blinken’s trip to London for a UK-U.S. Strategic Dialogue to deepen the special relationship.
Blinken said during the meeting that the relationship between the UK and the United States went beyond special, saying, “I like to call it essential.”
“Essential to our nations, our people, and people well beyond or shores,” he said.
Ahead of the meeting, Lammy said the meeting would include dialogue on defence, security, the Middle East, and other global priorities.
Lammy said: “The UK has no greater friend than America. The special relationship has been cherished on both sides of the Atlantic for more than 80 years, but together we are committed to supercharging our alliance to bring security and growth to Brits and Americans alike.
“In a more volatile and insecure world, it is even more important that we are highly aligned nations. Together we are re-energising our economic partnership, working together to tackle insecurity abroad and facing the future in unity and confidence.”
