Ukraine given NATO go-ahead to hit targets in Russian territory with US, German weapons

Germany and the US publicly backed Ukraine to hit military targets in Russian territory with their weapons, breaking an important taboo and secret surrounding the rules Kyiv must follow in resisting Moscow’s attack.

“This is a war of aggression, Ukraine has a right for self-defence, that includes striking legitimate targets in Russia, I welcome easing restrictions,” on the use of Western weapons used by the Ukrainians, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday (31 May).

“Russia escalated the war by opening a new front in the north [of Ukraine], which demonstrates that [Russia] is now attacking Ukraine from inside Russia – [for Ukraine] to attack beyond enemy lines is also to attack Russian territory,” he explained.

His remarks follow an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Prague, where discussions on support for Ukraine were high on the agenda.

Berlin’s green light came on Friday morning. Its position had been the centre of attention since it supplied Ukraine with large quantities of weapons, capable of hitting targets in Russia.

Ukraine is now allowed to use German weapons against Russian targets in line with international law,  a national government spokesperson said in a statement released to the press.

It followed very closely the US, whose weapons can now also be used from the city of Kharkiv against Russian targets, several media reported on Thursday (30 May) in the evening.

Between five to ten countries, including the United Kingdom, Finland, France, Poland, Lithuania, and the Netherlands gave their backing over time since the beginning of the war more than two years ago.

Pressure mounted on Kyiv’s backers over the past few days, with Russia opening a new front of its illegal war, north of Kharkiv, putting additional strains on the stretched, ammunition-deprived Ukrainian armed forces.

The situation was clouded by uncertainty, as to whether the armed forces were allowed to use Western-delivered weapons to target armament stockpiles and other military targets in Russian territory.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this week that Ukraine was not currently “using our partners’ arms to attack Russian territory” so as not to risk their support – a situation he considered “unfair”, asking allies to “please give us the permission to do that.”

Stoltenberg called on members to lift restrictions on weapon use so Ukraine could strike deep into Russia, in an Economist interview last week.

Though NATO as an organistion does not supply weapons to Kyiv, there are discussions that it should take over the lead from Washington.

Germany’s move is another shift in its national defence policy, caused by what Chancellor Olaf Scholz called a Zeitenwende – a change of times – with Berlin agreeing to supply weapons to a country at war.

“In recent weeks, Russia has prepared, coordinated, and carried out attacks from positions in the Kharkiv area in particular from the directly neighbouring Russian border region. Ukraine can also use the weapons supplied for this [self-defence] purpose [against these attacks] in accordance with its international legal obligations, including those supplied by us,” said the German government explaining its decision.

“The point is that Ukraine must have the ability to defend themselves: if the target has moved itself into Russia, then [Ukraine] should move as well,” said Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis.

However Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavsky, on Thursday (30 May), before hosting the informal NATO ministerial meeting, said it was up to each government to decide themselves which restrictions to apply to Ukraine’s use of their delivered weapon. 

[Edited by Rajnish Singh]

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