Incitement and hatred: London promotes lifting ban on strikes deep into Russia
Britain may convince the United States to resume strikes deep into the territory of the Russian Federation with long-range weapons, sources in the kingdom's parliament told Izvestia. In addition, London is clearly ready to purchase American weapons for Ukraine, despite society's fatigue from the conflict. The interest of British politicians is also fueled by Donald Trump's tougher rhetoric towards Russia — the American president has reduced the deadline for resolving the conflict from 50 to 10 days and has already begun to impose secondary sanctions against Moscow's partners. Whether Washington is ready to rekindle the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is in the Izvestia article.
Starmer may convince Trump to increase pressure on Russia
One of the topics of recent talks between US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer could well be the lifting of the ban on strikes deep into Russia with American weapons. London has the potential to convince Washington to lift this restriction, Izvestia found out.
"Prime Minister Starmer may well try to convince President Trump to approve further strikes deeper into Russian territory, but Trump will understand that if he does, the conflict will drag on, which contradicts his stated goals," said Richard Balfe, a member of the British House of Lords.
US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a bilateral meeting.
London regularly raises the issue of lifting restrictions for Ukraine during bilateral and multilateral meetings, according to analyst Tigran Meloyan.
— British officials have repeatedly stated their readiness to make a decision in favor of Kiev, but they are not ready to take such a step alone. In general, lobbying for the UK is not something new here: over the past few years, it has traditionally assumed the role of a bridge between the US and the EU to develop a unified strategy towards Russia. Diplomatic missions play a special role in it, including visits to Kiev jointly with the leaders of Germany, France and Poland, the last of which took place in May this year," the expert said.
At the same time, London, apparently, will be ready to purchase these weapons for Kiev from the United States. Washington had previously stated that it would not organize military supplies to Ukraine itself, but instead would force European countries to pay for it.
— The UK can afford to buy weapons for Ukraine and for anyone else. What matters is whether they want to do it. Public opinion in the UK is starting to get tired of the war. However, the country can do what the parliament allows, and they seem to have accepted that everything should take its course. As the old joke goes, America says "jump," and the UK government only asks "how high," Balfe says.
For the first time, Ukraine used American ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory in November 2024. Then five of the six shells were shot down, one was damaged. "Russia's position is well known, which was announced by President Putin back in the summer in St. Petersburg… And you know, such attacks have been carried out on the territory of Russia. And you know that the president said that every time there will be an answer. You can see that the answers are following, as the president said," presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier.
Such maneuvers by Kiev followed Joe Biden's tacit decision to lift the ban on strikes deep into Russia, but only with a range of 300 km. Before that, Ukraine had been asking the United States and other partners for months to give the green light.
— The US government's restriction on the use of ATACMS missiles with a range of over 300 km against targets deep in Russian territory is currently in effect. No one has lifted this restriction yet, but Kiev is trying to achieve this in a variety of ways: they act through their NATO allies and through direct contacts with the American administration," Dmitry Kornev, editor of the MilitaryRussia website, tells Izvestia.
There are other missile systems that are supplied by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. For example, the United Kingdom lifted restrictions on the use of long—range Storm Shadow missiles, and France lifted restrictions on their version of the SCALP, although again this was done quietly and without loud official statements.
It is unknown exactly how many long-range missiles are currently in service with the Ukrainian Armed Forces. According to The Washington Post, their reserves have already been exhausted. At the same time, Kiev is interested in receiving both American ATACMS and German Taurus in order to be able to strike at Russian weapons production and storage sites. The issue with Taurus is the most sensitive: the German authorities still refuse to supply them to Ukraine, but a couple of months ago, the new Chancellor Friedrich Merz did not rule out such a possibility.
Tightening of US rhetoric towards Russia
The potential lifting of the ban on strikes deep into Russia could be a consequence of the impending "failure" in Trump's settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. On July 29, the American president announced that his previously announced deadline of 50 days for a deal between Moscow and Kiev was now reduced to 10, meaning the deadline would expire on August 8. Trump said he was tired of negotiations that did not lead to progress in resolving the Ukrainian conflict.
Back on July 14, Trump promised to impose tariffs of 100% on imports from Russia, as well as secondary sanctions against countries that continue to purchase oil and gas from Russia if Moscow and Kiev do not agree. On July 29, Trump said that measures against Russia could include sanctions, duties and "something else."
So far, the settlement of the conflict has stopped at the third round, which took place on July 23 in Istanbul. As a result, Russia offered Ukraine to form working groups on politics, humanitarian and military issues that would work online, expressed its readiness to exchange the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and "other categories of persons" for residents of the Kursk region, and also invited Kiev to return to short humanitarian pauses on the front line. A potential meeting of the presidents was also discussed, but the Russian side insisted that such a summit was only possible to sign a peace agreement.
It is unlikely that it will be approved in the coming week, so Trump's threats to toughen his stance against Russia are taking shape. This is exactly what the European allies can use to push through their methods of pressure, that is, strikes with long-range weapons. However, the expert community believes that at the end of the deadline, Trump will still focus, as promised, on economic influence on Moscow, which, however, he has been doing over the past months in relation to all other countries in order to achieve his geopolitical goals and "make America great again."
— With the expiration of the deadline set by Trump for Russia, Washington's approach to lifting all restrictions on the use of weapons is unlikely to change dramatically. Trump will prefer to act in his own way rather than listen to the opinions of junior allies in London and Brussels. In addition, it is important for him to demonstrate himself as a peacemaker — a man who ended the conflict in Ukraine, rather than bringing the planet closer to a new world war. Most likely, new efforts will be focused on expanding the range of weapons supplied and economic sanctions," Meloyan believes.
The restrictions on Ukraine's use of long-range missiles supplied by the United States are primarily due to Washington's desire to avoid escalation and avoid being drawn into a direct conflict with Moscow, rather than a lack of desire to help the allies in inflicting strategic defeat on Russia, the expert continues.
"As a rule, the scale of permissible use of American missiles is determined by bilateral agreements and end—user conditions, which the United States monitors with special attention and understanding of the potential risks that may follow," says Tigran Meloyan.
In his opinion, the main risk in granting such independence to the Armed Forces of Ukraine is that they will start using missiles with the support of European allies against strategically important targets deep in Russia without coordination with Washington.
Additional pressure will be exerted on Russia's trading partners — China, India and other BRICS and SCO member countries. This is how the West hopes to isolate Russia from foreign trade, which Moscow continues to develop, including with members of these associations. In the near future, restrictions may affect India. Since August 1, import duties of 25% have been imposed against it, as well as fines, including for "cooperation with Russia": for the purchase of weapons and energy resources from it.
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