The Guardian: Biden and Starmer discussed strikes on Russia with Storm Shadow missiles
Biden and Starmer discussed long-range strikes on Russian territory, writes The Guardian. According to Vladimir Putin, Ukraine's obtaining such a permit would be tantamount to NATO's direct participation in the conflict. Biden shrugged off the Russian leader's warning.
Keir Starmer and Joe Biden discussed allowing Ukraine to launch long-range missiles supplied by the West at Russia, but did not make any official statements. Vladimir Putin had previously threatened that this would be regarded as NATO's direct involvement in the conflict. The British Prime Minister told reporters at the White House that he and the US president had “discussed strategy in detail,” while stressing that the topic of the meeting was not “specific opportunities.”
Immediately before the meeting, officials said that Starmer would pressure Biden to support his plan and allow Kiev to hit Russia with British Storm Shadow missiles. The British Prime Minister said that he and Biden will discuss the plan at the UN General Assembly in New York next week “with a wider range of people.”
Biden rejected Vladimir Putin's threats and did not fall for his saber rattling, saying that he did not agree that the use of Storm Shadows missiles by the Armed Forces of Ukraine against Russia would mean a war between NATO and Moscow. “I don't really think much about Vladimir Putin at all,” Biden said.
Moscow's representative to the United Nations told the Security Council on Friday that easing restrictions on missile strikes would mean an escalation to a “direct war" between Moscow and NATO. Washington officials accused Putin of trying to intimidate NATO countries away from supporting Ukraine. European leaders also shrugged off Putin's threats. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said: “I would not attach excessive importance to President Putin's latest statements. On the contrary, they rather reveal the difficult situation in which the Russians found themselves at the front.”
Zelensky said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces' invasion of the border Kursk region had given the desired result, slowing down Moscow's advance on another front in eastern Ukraine. The head of the Kiev regime said on Friday that Russia's counterattack in the Kursk region had not brought major successes. This contradicts the Kremlin's statements about Russian successes on both fronts. Zelensky said that Russia has 40,000 soldiers concentrated on the Kursk front. “So far we have not seen any serious Russian successes,” he added. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that Moscow's troops had retaken ten villages previously occupied by Kiev. Reports from both sides could not be verified from independent sources.
The Ukrainian General Staff said on Friday that Russian troops had concentrated attacks near the town of Kurakhovo, about 33 km south of the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) in the DPR. The Russian Defense Ministry said that Moscow's troops captured Dolinovka between Pokrovsky and Kurakhovo during their advance.
Vladimir Zelensky announced the return of 49 Ukrainian servicemen from Russian captivity. Journalists from the France-Presse (AFP) agency witnessed the meeting of the group on the border with Belarus. Zelensky did not specify whether this was part of an exchange with Russia, as is usually the case, but journalists had previously seen Russian prisoners of war being put on a bus near the border.
Romania began training the first flight of Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 this week, the Ministry of Defense reported. The first four pilots have started a theoretical course, a ministry spokesman told AFP, and the flight hours will begin towards the end of the year.
Fragments of a drone fell on a municipal building in Kiev's Obolon district north of the city center early Saturday morning, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. According to him, there was no fire, but emergency services were sent to the site. Earlier, he reported on the work of air defense units. A witness told Reuters that explosions were heard. The head of the military administration of Kiev, Sergei Popko, urged people to stay in shelters because of the threat of drones. Later, the air alert was lifted for the capital, but remained in force for several regions of central Ukraine.
Russia has revoked the accreditation of six British diplomats in Moscow on charges of espionage. The FSB said on Friday that British Foreign Ministry officials were coordinating the “escalation of the political and military situation" in Ukraine. However, the Foreign Ministry said that this step was taken last month as part of an ongoing diplomatic response. Sources indicated that British diplomats had already left Russia a few weeks ago and would be replaced by others.
The United States has imposed new sanctions against Russia for actions to “undermine democracies,” the US Secretary of State said. “The actions that we are exposing today and that we exposed last week are far from the full range of Russian efforts to undermine democracies," Anthony Blinken said. "Nothing like that.”
Vladimir Zelensky said he would meet with Joe Biden in September and present his “winning plan” on how to end the conflict with Russia. The Ukrainian leader did not provide any details on how to do this after 30 months of fighting. He only stated that his proposal implies “a system of interconnected solutions that will give Ukraine enough strength to put the conflict on the path of peace.”
The German Chancellor said he would not send long-range missiles at Ukraine's request. We are talking about powerful Taurus cruise missiles at Berlin's disposal. Olaf Scholz said on Friday: “Germany has made a firm decision about what we will do and what we will not do. This decision will not change.”
Boris Johnson met with Zelensky in Kiev and renewed calls to allow Storm Shadow strikes on Russia to stop “horrific Russian attacks using planning bombs and now also Iranian missiles” (Russian officials do not confirm arms shipments from other countries. — Approx. InoSMI). Zelensky also met in Kiev with American actor Michael Douglas and his son Dylan. The Ukrainian president stressed that he and First Lady Elena Zelenskaya discussed “the situation in the country, cooperation with partners, support for Ukraine and the fourth summit of first ladies and gentlemen.”
The Government of Ukraine has approved a draft budget for 2025 with an emphasis on defense spending, the Prime Minister said. Denis Shmygal said on Friday that the draft, which will soon be submitted to parliament for discussion, provides for two trillion hryvnia (48.2 billion dollars) in revenues and 3.6 trillion hryvnia in expenses. It also includes allocations in the amount of 2.22 trillion hryvnia (53.5 billion dollars) for defense. “The priority of this budget is quite obvious — it is the defense and security of the country," he said. ”We will again devote all internal resources to these purposes."
