Yesterday’s Biden-Starmer meeting at the White House made the world none the wiser about whether Ukraine will eventually get the go-ahead to use long-range missiles to strike deep into Russian territory.

Keir Starmer traveled to Washington to meet with Joe Biden and discuss the war in Ukraine. However, after the meeting when asked about the hot topic he replied: “We had a long and productive discussion on a number of issues, including Ukraine, as you would expect.

It’s not a specific decision, but obviously we’ll be back at the UN General Assembly in a few days with a broader group of people, but this was a very important invitation from the president to discuss at this level about these critical issues.”

However, despite repeated calls for a decision, the West has so far not given the green light.

Two US officials with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters that Keir Starmer was seeking US approval to allow Ukraine to use the missiles Storm Shadow for widespread attacks in Russia.

They added that they believed Mr. Biden would be positive.

The US president’s approval is necessary because the Storm Shadow’s components are manufactured in the US, skynews reports.

But when he spoke to reporters after the meeting, Starmer, although pressed for a response, avoided giving a straight answer.

The US is concerned that any step could lead to an escalation of the conflict and has moved cautiously so far, however, there have been reports in recent days that Mr Biden may change his administration’s policy.

Vladimir Putin on Thursday threatened the West, warning that allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles to strike inside Russian territory would put Moscow at “war” with NATO.

Speaking on Russian state television, he insisted the decision would “significantly change” the nature of the war. “This will mean that the NATO countries, the USA, the European countries are at war with Russia. If so, then, keeping in mind the change in the very essence of this conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats posed to us.”

When asked about the threats, Biden replied: “I don’t think much about Vladimir Putin.”

U.S. officials, according to Reuters, have pointed out that Ukraine already has the ability to strike Russia using drones, and while U.S. missiles would enhance that capability, they are too expensive and too limited in number to change the overall picture.