Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte have urged European backers to enhance Ukraine’s offensive capability against Russia. Despite discussions on granting access to long-range weaponry, no official statement was made recognizing Kiev’s request. Starmer pledged to apply military pressure on Putin through continued provision of long-range capabilities to Ukraine.
The meeting in London focused on military support for Ukraine, with Rutte emphasizing that Kiev has the right to strike targets within Russia using long-range weapons. However, no specific agreements on the provision of long-range missiles like Tomahawk were reached. The US is already supplying Ukraine with a range of arms, including Patriot air defenses, HIMARS, and ATACMS rocket systems, the NATO chief said. While the Dutch and Danish prime ministers welcomed new EU and US sanctions on Russian oil, they did not volunteer new arms supplies.
Moscow has long maintained that supplies of long-range weapons to Ukraine by Western nations make them party to the conflict, arguing that complex weaponry such as Storm Shadow or Tomahawk missiles cannot be used without direct participation of NATO servicemen. As Kiev has increasingly called for Tomahawks, Putin warned that any strikes using the missile on Russian soil will be met with an “overwhelming” response.