UKRAINE – The foreign secretary has insisted no single weapon can win a war, as he said the UK was still discussing with allies whether to allow Ukraine to fire long-range missiles into Russia. David Lammy told the BBC it was important that countries supporting Ukraine had “a shared strategy to win”. Ukraine already has supplies of long-range missiles from the UK, the United States and France but at the moment it is only allowed to fire them at targets within its own borders.

President Zelensky has been pleading for months for these restrictions to be lifted so Ukraine can use them against targets inside Russia. However, no confirmation came after talks between Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and US President Joe Biden in Washington on Wednesday.

Pressed over whether the delay in lifting restrictions on the use of long-range missiles was emboldening Russian President Vladimir Putin, Lammy told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme No war is won with any one weapon. “He refused to confirm whether the UK and its allies were planning to allow missiles to be used against targets in Russia. But he added: “This is under careful discussion with the Ukrainians, as we assess what they need as they head into the winter”. Lammy said the UK and other allies would be meeting President Zelensky at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in less than 12 days’ times and suggested the issue would be discussed then.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said Ukraine should be allowed to use long-range missiles to attack military bases inside Russia, even if the UK had to act “unilaterally Asked whether the UK would “go it alone” and lift restrictions without US support, Lammy told the BBC “it’s important that as allies supporting Ukraine we have a shared strategy to win going forward. Gen Sir John McColl, former deputy supreme allied commander Europe of Nato, said he believed Ukraine would eventually be allowed to use long-range missiles against targets in Russia. “Ukraine’s allies needed to be “firm” and “not signal this kind of dither and dilemma. At the end of the weekend president Putin will be encouraged and emboldened and president Zelensky will be disappointed”, he said. However, Sir John said the missiles would have only “a limited effect on the war as a whole”. (BBC)…[+]