French President Emmanuel Macron is plotting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to tie down the coming US Donald Trump administration regarding Ukraine, according to press reports in the UK.
A report published in The Telegraph on November 10 claimed that both Paris and London were looking to permit the Ukrainians to use long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles on targets deep in Russia.
Developed jointly by France and the UK, Storm Shadow reportedly requires the use of US technology to be used effectively, meaning that Washington would also need to sign off on the plan for it to be technically feasible.
The Telegraph claimed that both Macron and Starmer were now looking for outgoing US President Joe Biden’s blessing regarding the plan, the thinking being that it would be difficult for Trump to reverse the sign-off if given by Democrats.
Subsequent reports have indicated that — despite Trump’s claim he would see an end to the war in Ukraine soon after coming to office in January next year — both Britain and France remain committed to the supporting the country in the conflict.
At a bilateral meeting on Armistice Day November 11, Starmer and Macron both reportedly committed to supporting Kyiv’s war effort “unwaveringly”.
Both countries’ position on Storm Shadow was left vague, with a spokesman for Number 10 claiming that the Prime Minister’s position on how the missile was used by Ukrainian forces had not changed.
“We’ve always said that where we discuss our support for Ukraine, we do so in terms of broader strategy to ensure that Ukraine is in the strongest possible position going forwards, particularly in the winter, and we’ve also been clear that no war was ever won by a single weapon,” the spokesman said.
Reports in the US indicated that Trump was committed to engineering an end to the war in Eastern Europe.
The Washington Post claimed that the President-elect spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone after being voted in, during which Trump warned that Russia should not engage in further military escalation in the conflict.
Moscow has denied reports of the call, although insiders have reportedly admitted that relations between the White House and the Kremlin look set to thaw significantly once the Trump administration is in place.
“Trump talked during his campaign about how he sees everything through deals, that he can make a deal that will lead everyone to peace,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media.
“At least he talks about peace, not about confrontation and the desire to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.”
The EU has doubled down on its green agenda in the face of Donald Trump’s US presidential election win, with the bloc’s Council of the EU insisting that “decarbonisation” was the key to making it competitive again. https://t.co/mupv3WUMJ2
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) November 8, 2024
