Starmer to demand Biden's promised $20 billion for Ukraine before Trump arrives - Telegraph
Kyiv • UNN
The British prime minister plans to discuss with Biden at the G20 summit the allocation of the $20 billion promised by the United States for Ukraine. Starmer also intends to raise the issue of authorizing the use of Storm Shadow missiles deep into Russia.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will demand that US President Joe Biden transfer $20 billion to Ukraine - the US promised part of the $50 billion agreed by the G7 - before Donald Trump comes to power, the British edition of The Telegraph reports, according to UNN.
Details
“Keir Starmer should urge Joe Biden to allocate funds for a $20 billion loan to Ukraine before Donald Trump takes office,” the publication writes.
The British Prime Minister reportedly insists on holding face-to-face talks with the outgoing US President Biden when they both attend the G20 summit in Brazil next week.
The G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro early next week could be crucial, the newspaper points out, as allies discuss accelerating support for Ukraine. Starmer, Biden and Macron will be there.
London's lobbying is aimed at ensuring that the G7 countries-Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States-all fulfill their previous promises of new loans to Ukraine.
In June, G7 world leaders agreed to provide Ukraine with $50 billion in loans, partially financed by interest earned on Russian assets seized after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The US has promised to provide $20 billion of this $50 billion, but it has not yet been disbursed. Reports from the US last month indicated that the money is being prepared for disbursement this year, the newspaper writes.
One Whitehall insider close to the political discussions said Britain was ready to “hold Biden's feet to the fire” for the promise.
Negotiations on Strzemer's meeting at the G20 summit have not yet been finalized or announced, but Downing Street and the Foreign Ministry expect a bilateral meeting with Biden to be agreed upon.
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, is expected to make the same arguments for loan promises at the G7 foreign ministers' meeting in Rome later this month.
According to the publication, Starmer is also expected to say that “Ukraine should finally be allowed to launch long-range Storm Shadow missiles deep into Russia, which Biden opposes.
Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, discussed the changing US position on Storm Shadow during talks in Paris on Monday, The Telegraph reports. The two leaders spent 20 minutes talking one-on-one about Ukraine, while a wider delegation of aides was not present in the room - a sign of the political sensitivity of the discussions, the newspaper said.
Macron and Starmer pledge “unwavering” support for UkraineNov 11 2024, 02:43 PM • 22095 views
Starmer was persistently asked if he had discussed Storm Shadow missiles with Macron while talking to journalists on the plane to the Cop 29 UN climate change summit in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
Sir Keir said: “I have always said that we will support Ukraine for as long as it takes, and we are committed to that. I've also said repeatedly that we need to put Ukraine in the best possible position.
“This has been my constant refrain for the four months since I became prime minister, in all the discussions I have had. This is the essence of the discussions we had.
However, the British prime minister refused to go into details of any discussions on operational military issues.
