"I Don't Think Much About Putin," Biden Says and U.S, UK Delay Ukraine Missiles Decision

U.S. President Joe Biden and his British guest, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, on Friday delayed a decision to let Ukraine strike back with long-range Western-supplied missiles deep inside Russia, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

The British leader had visited Washington to reportedly press Biden to back his plan to send Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine as allies became increasingly concerned about the battlefield situation.

A White House readout of their meeting stated that the two leaders had “an in-depth discussion on a range of foreign policy issues of mutual interest” and “reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine as it continues to defend against Russia’s aggression.”

Speaking to reporters outside the White House following a meeting with Biden, Starmer said he had a "wide-ranging discussion about strategy" with Biden but that it "wasn't a meeting about a particular capability."

The two leaders would now discuss the plan at the UN General Assembly in New York the week after next "with a wider group of individuals," Starmer suggested.

In the meantime, both Starmer and Biden played down the latest warnings by Russia's Putin that allowing Ukraine to fire the weapons would mean the West was "at war" with Russia.

"I don't think much about Vladimir Putin," Biden told reporters when asked about the comments.

“There’s only one reason we’re having these discussions, and that is that Putin has illegally invaded Ukraine, and the biggest way to resolve this obviously lies through what Putin actually does, because it’s manipulating this,” Starmer said.

“But we are having a discussion, we stood with Ukraine. Ukraine has a right to self-defense, and we’ve stood united, not just with allies here in the US, but across with our NATO allies,” he concluded.

State Department's Spokesperson Matthew Miller also said Friday that the Western allies would "continue to work to bolster [the Ukrainians] as well as  their capability to "take on Russian capabilities to launch those attacks in the first place"

"We’re going to be deliberate about that...  Every step that we take fits into a long-term strategy. Ultimately, I would ask that you judge us by our results, by our actions, and by the overall assistance that we provided.  And I think our track record in that regard speaks for itself," Miller told a daily briefing when pressed by TURAN's correspondent.