The British and French leaders are planning urgent discussions with the Biden administration in Paris to convince them to authorize further Ukrainian strikes into Russian territory by using Storm Shadow missiles.
Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and others will meet in Paris to discuss ways to maintain support for Ukraine after Donald Trump assumes office. The Telegraph reports that the Prime Minister of the UK, the French president and the French president will discuss whether Joe Biden could be convinced to allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadow missiles further into Russian territory.
Fearing a nuclear confrontation with Russia, Western countries such as the United States and United Kingdom have placed restrictions on Ukraine’s long-range weapons. These restrictions are imposed on a variety of weapons supplied by Western countries, including the American ATACMS missile system and British Storm Shadow.
Ukraine needs US approval to fully use British-supplied Storm Shadows for long-range attacks into Russia. This is because the missiles rely on advanced guidance systems which require highly accurate elevation charts, owned by the United States. The missiles would be reliant on GPS navigation if they did not have access to the classified cartography data. This would make them more vulnerable to Russian electronic warfare, and reduce their effectiveness.
The policy shift could be due to a sense that it is urgent to strengthen Ukraine’s capabilities before Trump becomes US president in January. He may be more inclined to pursue an agreement with Russia which would be unfavorable for Ukraine. Trump had promised to end the conflict “on day one” during his campaign. This raised fears that he would pressure Kyiv into accepting territorial losses to Russia.
The Telegraph reports that London officials are hoping Biden will grant Kyiv’s long-requested approval as part of his legacy in foreign policy.
“We want to make the most out of the time we have between now and January 20 [when Mr Trump will become US president] and make sure that we don’t just put everything on the back burner until the next administration,” said a senior Whitehall official, according to the Telegraph.
The diplomatic initiative carries risks. Trump could interpret the discussions as an interference in future US foreign policy and strain UK-US relations prior to his January inauguration.
In the final weeks of the Biden administration, it is expected that additional financial aid will be released to Ukraine.
Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister, is also seeking support from France, the UK and other European nations in order to prevent Ukraine from making any concessions as part of a possible peace deal with Russia that could be mediated by Donald Trump, US President-elect.
Donald Trump, the president-elect, is reportedly considering plans to create a 1,000-km-long buffer zone in Ukraine that would be guarded instead by EU and British troops. The proposal would freeze the current frontlines, and delay Ukraine’s NATO ambitions by 20-years. It suggests that US troops would not be directly involved in the military. Instead, they would provide weapons.
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