“I don’t think much about Putin,” the US president replied Joe Biden when asked about the Kremlin strongman’s threats about the risk of war between Russia and NATO.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that if the West allowed Kiev to use the long-range missiles it supplies to hit targets on Russian soil, it would mean “NATO countries are at war with Russia.”

During his meeting with the British Prime Minister yesterday Keir Starmer at the White House, the American president once again expressed his belief that Vladimir Putin will not prevail in the war with Ukraine.

British Prime Minister Starmer spoke of a “long and productive” meeting with President Biden on his way out of the White House.

But the British leader declined to answer a question about whether he had succeeded in persuading the US leader to allow the Ukrainians to use Britain’s long-range Storm Shadow missiles to strike inside Russian territory.

He limited himself to saying that this productive discussion covered Ukraine, the Middle East and the situation in the Indo-Pacific. “We talked strategically about tactical decisions, it wasn’t about any specific decision,” he added. He also said that these issues will be discussed again with other allies.

Asked by a reporter whether the reluctance to make a decision on the missiles showed the West had been intimidated by Putin’s threats of retaliation, the British prime minister said the whole debate was over Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and that President Putin could put an end to the war quickly.

“We support Ukraine. Ukraine has the right to self-defense,” he added, saying that with President Biden, an opportunity was given to consider not just a specific step or tactic, but the broader strategy against Russia.

Mr Starmer also said that both in Ukraine and in the Middle East it is clear that there are very important potential developments in the coming weeks and months and that is why he wanted to speak directly to President Biden using the invitation to visit the White House.