US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer yesterday discussed whether to let Kyiv use long-range missiles against Russia, in the two allies’ likely last meeting before an election that could upend US policy on Ukraine.
Starmer’s visit comes with Kyiv pushing London and Washington to lift the restriction and a warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin that giving Ukraine the green light would mean NATO was “at war” with Russia.
UK media reported that Biden, who is wary of provoking a nuclear conflict, was ready to let Ukraine deploy UK and French missiles using US technology, but not US-made missiles themselves.
Responding to Putin’s warning, Starmer told UK media traveling with him that “Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia can end this conflict straight away.”
In a sign of increasing tensions, Russia’s FSB security service announced yesterday that the accreditation of six British diplomats had been withdrawn.
“As a measure of reprisals to the multiple unfriendly acts of London, the Russian foreign ministry … has withdrawn the accreditation of six employees from the political department of the British embassy in Moscow,” it said.
A statement accused them of carrying out “subversive activities and intelligence” gathering.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Kyiv promised that Washington would quickly review Kyiv’s long-standing request and would “adjust, we’ll adapt as necessary” to help Ukraine defend itself.
Washington currently authorizes Ukraine to only hit Russian targets in the occupied parts of Ukraine and some in Russian border regions directly related to Moscow’s combat operations.
However, Putin, who has rattled the saber of nuclear conflict since the start of his February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, warned the US and UK against such a move.
“This would in a significant way change the very nature of the conflict. It would mean that NATO countries, the US, European countries, are at war with Russia,” he said on Thursday.
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
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