Tensions between Russia and the West over the conflict reached dire levels this week as U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met at the White House to discuss whether to ease rules on Kyiv's use of western-supplied weaponry.
Foreign Secretary Mr Lammy has been part of intensive UK-US diplomatic talks in Kyiv and Washington in the past week which have so far failed to produce a decision.
Joe Biden and Sir Keir Starmer, Britain’s prime minister, had spoken for two hours at the White House, and many thought the American president would finally grant his permission—needed, it is thought, because the missiles may draw on targeting information from American satellites and other sources in order to evade Russian defences, and some of them may contain American components.
Starmer and accompanying British Foreign Secretary David Lammy were there to discuss a number of security issues, but top of the agenda was the lifting of restrictions on the use of such weaponry against Russian territory.
