At a news conference in Kyiv on Wednesday, Blinken said US President Joe Biden would likely discuss the use of long-range missiles with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at the White House on Friday.
Asked about the risk of escalation, the US secretary of state added: “We’ve now seen this action of Russia acquiring ballistic missiles from Iran, which will further empower their aggression in Ukraine. So if anyone is taking escalatory action, it would appear to be Mr Putin and Russia.”
Lammy would not be drawn into whether the US and UK would be allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles, but said: “I am not prepared to give Putin the advantage.”
Biden has said his administration is considering lifting the restrictions, but no decision has yet been made public.
On Wednesday, Zelensky said Kyiv’s victory in the war against Russia “depends mostly on the support of the United States”.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said steps towards lifting long-range missile restrictions “are important in the context of reports of a possible transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia by Iran”.
“We must act boldly,” he added.
In an interview with the BBC, Lammy said Iran providing Russia with ballistic missiles “clearly changes the debate” as they would allow Moscow’s forces “to have further penetration into Ukraine”.
“That is very dangerous,” Lammy said, adding: “As we see the Russians working with their partners, we see this transfer of ballistic missiles from Iran to Russia, it is important that we do more to support Ukraine to win in their efforts.”
On Wednesday, Lammy said the UK would provide £600m ($780m) in aid to Ukraine to support the country’s “humanitarian, energy and stabilisation needs”. Blinken announced a further $700m in assistance to Ukraine, including funding for the energy sector and demining.
The new aid came after the US, UK, France and Germany imposed further sanctions on Iran for supplying Russia with ballistic missiles for use in Ukraine. The UK government summoned Iran’s top diplomat over the accusations.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal thanked Lammy for the UK’s military support for Ukraine throughout the war.
But he added: “We hope that long-range equipment for strikes on the territory of our enemy will be reached and we will have it and we hope for your help and support in this issue.”
