The United Kingdom has clarified that Kyiv did not have permission to use its Storm Shadow missiles to strike targets within Russian territory in a statement that countered an earlier assertion by Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky.
As part of its military support for Ukraine against Russian President Vladimir Putin's aggression, the U.K. announced in 2023 that it would supply Kyiv with the long-range missiles, which can be fired from aircraft and have a range of over 155 miles—three times that of U.S.-supplied HIMARS missiles.
But in an awkward diplomatic moment for the countries, Downing Street said the new British government's policy on the use of the missiles "had not changed," The Daily Telegraph reported.
The confusion appeared to emerge after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had suggested that it was Ukraine's call on how to use the missiles whose range allows Kyiv to strike Russian targets in occupied Crimea.
He said that if the missile was "used in accordance with international humanitarian law...it is for Ukraine to decide how to deploy it for those defensive purposes."
Zelensky later posted on X, formerly Twitter: "I learned about the permission to use Storm Shadow missiles against military targets in Russian territory." He added how he and Starmer had discussed "the practical implementation" of this decision at last week's NATO summit in Washington, D.C.
However, the U.K. government said that it has not yet given Ukraine permission to fire Storm Shadows into Russia.
Citing an unnamed source, the Telegraph said that the missile has not been used this year and Zelensky would have to "seek assurances elsewhere" before Ukraine could fire Storm Shadows into Russia, amid international concern that such a move risks escalation.
A senior defense source told the newspaper that permission to do so would require agreement from three countries, one of which is the United Kingdom, without naming the other two. France co-manufactures the Storm Shadow.
Ukrainska Pravda reported that British Foreign Secretary David Lammy was asked whether the missiles could be used to strike Russian military airfields further away from the Ukrainian-Russian border.
Lammy replied that Zelensky has "shared some views with us that we're reflecting on further" and that "we've undertaken to go away and look at some other things" while adding "I'm not going to get into operational decisions."
Newsweek has contacted the British and Ukrainian foreign ministries for comment.
Following the NATO summit, the alliance's members issued a declaration in support of Ukraine in which they promised additional aid and pledged to back its "irreversible path" to NATO membership.
But Benjamin H. Friedman, policy director of the Defense Priorities think tank, which advocates for restraint in American foreign policy, criticized NATO for offering a "false hope of membership."
"Promising future NATO membership preserves a cause of the war and incentivizes Russia to continue fighting to prevent that point from arriving," Friedman said in a statement emailed to Newsweek.
"Pretending NATO will defend Ukraine at some point in the future or that Kyiv can win back all its territory encourages Ukraine to continue a war strategy that is not working," he added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had noted comments by President Joe Biden made at the summit about Vladimir Putin, which included calling him a "murderous madman."
"We continue to consider it absolutely unacceptable and impermissible behavior for a head of state to make such disrespectful remarks," Peskov said.
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