The former head of the CIA, General David Petraeus, tells Ukrainecast why he thinks President Putin is bluffing after he warned the West against allowing Ukraine to use long-range weapons to target Russia. Lucy is in Washington DC where the UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, is meeting President Biden to discuss Ukraine. There are strong indications that they will agree to lift restrictions on Ukraine using such missiles against targets inside Russia. And James Waterhouse gives reaction on how the news is unfolding in Kyiv. Today’s episode is presented by Lucy Hockings. The producers were Arsenii Sokolov, Cordelia Hemming, Charlotte Scarr, Claire Betzer and Ivana Davidovic. The technical producers were Ben Andrews and Frank McWeeny. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The senior news editor is Richard Fenton-Smith. Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480 You can join the Ukrainecast discussion on Newscast’s Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord
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It's 933 days since Russia began its full scale invasion of Ukraine.
And as we record this, it's the middle of the morning Here in Washington D.C.
the UK Prime Minister Zacchaeus Dahmer is here.
He's meeting with President Biden.
They're discussing Ukraine.
And there are now strong indications that the US and the UK will lift restrictions on Ukraine using long range missiles against targets inside Russia.
And overnight we heard from President Putin.
He warned the west against allowing Ukraine to use these weapons to target Russia.
If this decision is made, it will mean nothing other than direct participation of NATO countries, the United States, European countries in the war in Ukraine.
It is their direct participation.
And this of course significantly changes the very essence of the conflict.
This will mean that NATO countries, the United States, European countries are fighting with Russia.
Following those comments, Russia also announced it had revoked the accreditation of six British diplomats, accusing them of spying and what many have said is punishment for these weapons talks.
Though we understand at the BBC that these diplomats actually left Russia many weeks ago.
But who better to talk about all of this than General David Petraeus.
He was director of the CIA and led American and international forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
We'll be talking to him from Kyiv in this episode of Ukraine Cast.