UK government sources have indicated that a decision had already been made to allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadow cruise missiles on targets inside Russia, The Guardian reports.

They added, however, that this is not expected to be publicly announced on Friday when UK prime minister Keir Starmer  meets US President Joe Biden in Washington DC.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK foreign secretary, David Lammy held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha in Kyiv. Blinken said the US had “from day one” been willing to adapt its policy as the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine changed.

“We will continue to do this,” he emphasized.

“The escalator here is [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. Putin has escalated with the shipment of missiles from Iran. We see a new axis of Russia, Iran and North Korea," added the US Secretary of State.