Keir Starmer cools Zelensky hopes of being able to fire British weapons into Russia

Keir Starmer has cooled Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky's hopes that Storm Shadow weapons can be used to attack Russian terriritory in spite of Vladimir Putin's warnings

Keir Starmer sought to cool hopes of a breakthrough over allowing Ukraine to fire long-range missiles into Russia.

Western allies have been locked in talks over whether to let Kyiv use Storm Shadow missiles to attack Russian territory for the first time. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has argued the Western supplied missiles are crucial to defeating Vladimir Putin - and will present a “victory plan” to US President Joe Biden this week.

But Mr Starmer dampened expectations of an imminent decision, telling reporters that the Ukraine’s victory was not solely dependent on weapons. Speaking en route to the UN General Assembly in New York, he said: “We will have discussions about a whole range of issues, and we will listen carefully to what President Zelensky’s got to say, and that’s what’s going to happen in the next few days.”

It is understood that there is not expected to be a major breakthrough on the PM’s two-day trip, although Ukraine will feature heavily in his talks with world leaders. Mr Starmer said he expected discussions in New York about how Ukraine could defeat Russia would be more broad than just weapons.

He said: “I don't think (the) victory plan will be about a sole issue like long-range missiles, it will be about a strategic, overarching route for Ukraine to find a way through this and succeed against Russian aggression,” he said. The conflict in Ukraine is likely to dominate the gathering as it is “at a critical stage”, he said.

“Obviously, President Zelenskyy has a plan that he wants to walk through with all of us,” he added. “The support for Ukraine is resolute. We supply quite a lot of capability already under the last government; we've increased that under this government,” he went on.

“And we will always listen very carefully to what Ukraine says it needs by way of capability.”