LONDON – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Britain’s new government to help Ukrainian forces attack deeper inside Russia to stop deadly missile strikes on his country, as he gave a rare address by a foreign leader to a U.K. Cabinet meeting.
Zelenskyy said “long-range capability” to destroy sites where Russian weapons are concentrated is key to Ukraine's defense.
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“I ask you to show your leadership" in lifting restrictions on Ukraine's use of Western weapons, Zelenskyy told Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Russia has deployed devastating firepower as it pursues a summer offensive in eastern Ukraine, reducing villages to rubble and pushing back Ukrainian troops in places. It has also launched missile and drone attacks across Ukraine, killing dozens and hitting targets including a Kyiv children's hospital.
Some of Kyiv's allies are reluctant to let Ukraine use their weapons to strike Russian territory because of concerns that the West could be drawn into direct conflict with Russia. The British government has said it's up to Ukraine how to use missiles supplied by the U.K., as long as international law is upheld.
In an interview with the BBC, Zelenskyy said he was seeking clarification about Ukraine’s ability to use Storm Shadow missiles supplied by Britain against targets in Russia. The Storm Shadow is an air-launched cruise missile with a range of more than 250 kilometers (155 miles).
"We need a decision about long-distance weapons, long range, to use it,” Zelenskyy said. “We need it very much. They’re targeting our hospitals, schools. We just want to answer exactly to the point where from they target us.”
U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey said Ukraine already has permission to use the missiles against Russia, but the rules for exactly what can be targeted and under what circumstances are “complex questions” that are the subject of intense negotiations.
“We’re providing weapons to Ukraine for their defense of their sovereign country, and that does not preclude them hitting targets in Russia, but that must be done by the Ukrainians. It must be done within the parameters and the bounds of international humanitarian law,” Healey told the BBC.
The United States, Ukraine's biggest military backer, recently shifted its position, with the Pentagon saying last month that Ukraine could use longer-range missiles provided by the U.S. to strike targets inside Russia if it is acting in self-defense.
Since the beginning of Russia’s 2022 invasion, the U.S. had maintained a policy of not allowing Ukraine to use the weapons it provided to hit targets inside Russia for fear of further escalation.
Zelenskyy received a standing ovation from Starmer’s government as he entered the Cabinet room at 10 Downing St. The last foreign leader invited to address a Cabinet meeting in person was U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1997.
Zelenskyy briefed ministers on the situation in Ukraine and the need for European countries to ramp up defense production in the face of Russian aggression.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine had repelled Russian attempts to advance on northeastern Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, showing that “we can stop any Russian attempt to expand the war.”
The Ukrainian army is having a harder time in the eastern Donetsk region, however. That's where a pulverizing Russian onslaught in recent months has forced Kyiv's troops to withdraw from some towns and villages.
The latest targets are the mining town of Toretsk and the city of Pokrovsk, where Russia is stepping up its assaults. Ukrainian forces repelled 20 and 27 attacks on those areas respectively over the previous 24 hours, Ukraine’s General Staff said Friday. That was almost double the number of assaults recorded at other hot spots along the front line, it said.
Starmer, whose center-left Labour Party government was elected two weeks ago, is keen to stress that the U.K.'s strong support for Ukraine will continue on his watch.
Starmer said the U.K. would “double down” on support for Ukraine, including with a treaty that aims to help both countries ramp up military production. The U.K. is also giving Ukraine access to 3.5 billion pounds ($4.5 billion) of export financing to purchase weapons.
“Ukraine is, and always will be, at the heart of this government’s agenda, and so it is only fitting that President Zelenskyy will make a historic address to my Cabinet,” Starmer said in a statement. “Russia’s incremental gains on the battlefield are nothing compared with the collective international support for Ukraine, or the strength of ties between our people.”
During a visit to Britain that included a summit of the European Political Community on Thursday, Ukraine’s president repeated his increasingly urgent calls for more ammunition and weapons and tougher sanctions on Russia.
European leaders at the summit agreed to tighten sanctions against a “shadow fleet” of hundreds of illegitimate and often decrepit ships the West says Russia is using to transport oil and evade sanctions.
Leaders expressed support for Ukraine and concern about the direction of the United States on Thursday at the security-focused summit, which was clouded by worries about whether the U.S. will remain a reliable ally if Donald Trump wins a second presidency.
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Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine