U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who will join the latter part of Friday’s White House meeting along with Britain’s National Security Adviser Tim Barrow and Ambassador to the U.S. Karen Pierce, said on a joint visit with Blinken to Kyiv on Wednesday: “The escalator here is Putin. Putin has escalated with the shipment of missiles from Iran.”
The Iranian missiles, equipped with 150-kilogram warheads, pose a much greater threat to Ukraine than the Shahed drones Iran has previously been selling to Russia. While less accurate than cruise missiles, the Iranian missiles approach their targets at speeds of up to 3,200 kilometers per hour and are difficult to shoot down.
Blinken, on the same visit to Kyiv on Wednesday, confirmed that Starmer and Biden would “no doubt” discuss the matter at Friday’s White House summit and stressed the risk of escalation is “not the only factor” in making a decision.
Matthew Savill, director of military services for the London-based defense think tank RUSI, said any extension of allies’ support for long-range missiles was for Ukraine “a test of support and willpower — is the West going to be deterred by Russian rhetoric or not?”
The reluctance to make such a commitment thus far has been centered “around the risk nuclear escalation and blowback against international partners,” Savill noted, “but at the same time the Russians have been talking about for a year now as if they are already effectively at war with the U.S. and the U.K.”
He warned the Storm Shadow missiles would have “limited” impact tactically inside Russia but said their use could help unlock the use of U.S.-supplied ATACMS and raise questions about where to put Russian air defenses, which could improve the ability of Ukrainian drones to get through.