Ukraine asks UK for ‘help and support’ in using long-range missiles in Russia

David Lammy and his US counterpart Antony Blinken are on a joint visit to the Ukrainian capital to show support for Kyiv.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy attends a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and other officials during a visit to Kyiv in Ukraine (Leon Neal/PA) (PA Wire)

The Ukrainian prime minister has asked the UK for “help and support” in using long-range missiles to strike Russian territory as he met the Foreign Secretary in Kyiv.

David Lammy and his US counterpart Antony Blinken are on a joint visit to the Ukrainian capital to show support for Kyiv.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly pushed for permission to use Western missiles to strike at targets within Vladimir Putin’s Russia, and US President Joe Biden and Sir Keir Starmer are set to discuss the issue in Washington on Friday.

Speaking at the start of a meeting with Mr Lammy at his office in Kyiv on Wednesday, Denys Shmyhal said: “We hope that long-range equipment for strikes on the territory of our enemy will be reached and we will have it. And we hope for your help and support in this issue.”

Mr Lammy and Mr Blinken took an overnight train from eastern Poland and reached the Ukrainian capital at 11.45am local time.

Mr Blinken travelled from London, where he accused Iran of providing Russia with Fath-360 short-range ballistic missiles, calling the move a “dramatic escalation” of the war.

Mr Lammy hailed the Kyiv trip as “the first of its kind in a decade” at a press conference alongside his US counterpart on Tuesday, while Mr Blinken said: “One of the purposes of the trip we will be taking together is to hear directly from the Ukrainian leadership including … President Zelensky about exactly how the Ukrainians see their needs in this moment, toward what objectives and what we can do to support those needs.

“All I can tell you is 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.”

Asked whether Ukraine would be given permission to use UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles in Russia, Mr Lammy said on Tuesday: “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.”

Meanwhile, the UK announced sanctions on 10 ships operating as part of a “shadow fleet” seeking to evade the embargo on Russian oil.

The vessels, described as “high-volume offenders”, will now be barred from entering UK ports and refused access to the UK Ship Register.

Mr Lammy said: “Russia has been forced to spend over eight billion dollars (£6 billion) amassing this shadow fleet. But with sanctioned tankers loitering and unable to load oil, we are determined to make Putin’s investment an expensive misstep for the Kremlin.”

Downing Street said there was “no change in our position” on the use of Storm Shadow missiles in Russia but added that the Government always listened to Ukrainian concerns.

The spokeswoman added: “Our position hasn’t changed, but we will always continue to listen to Ukrainians.

“That’s what we’re doing in Ukraine today, and the Prime Minister and the president will be discussing our support and how we can best support Ukraine at this critical juncture as we head into the winter.

“But I’m not going to get into specifics of operational discussions and the details of that, not least because that would benefit Putin.”