Stoltenberg calls on NATO allies to allow Ukraine to strike Russian territory

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has called on NATO allies supplying weapons to Ukraine to lift the ban on their use in attacking military targets in Russia. 

Source: Stoltenberg in an interview with The Economist

Quote: "The time has come for allies to consider whether they should lift some of the restrictions they have put on the use of weapons they have donated to Ukraine. Especially now when a lot of the fighting is going on in Kharkiv, close to the border, to deny Ukraine the possibility of using these weapons against legitimate military targets on Russian territory makes it very hard for them to defend themselves."

Details: Stoltenberg noted that the Russians would continue to press and gain small positions and were ready to pay a very high price for these small gains.

He also criticised European allies who had promised one million artillery shells: "We haven’t seen anything close to that."

Stoltenberg acknowledged the risk of escalation. He said that the challenge was to "prevent this war becoming a full-fledged war between Russia and NATO in Europe".  But he stressed the difference between arms supplies, training and military action: "We provide training, we provide weapons, ammunition to Ukraine, but we will not be directly involved from NATO territory in combat operations over or in Ukraine. So that’s a different thing."

He also commented on the proposal to deploy troops in Ukraine if its government requests it, an idea advocated by French President Emmanuel Macron: "That’s not the plan…We don’t have any intention to send NATO ground troops into Ukraine because our purpose…has been two-fold, to support Ukraine as we do, but also to ensure that we don’t escalate this into a full-scale conflict."

Background:

• It was reported that US House Speaker Mike Johnson believed that the United States should allow Ukraine to wage war "in the way they see fit", commenting on Kyiv's request to allow it to use American weapons to strike Russian territory.
• Earlier, the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee released an appeal from a group of congressmen from both parties to Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, calling for a faster delivery of weapons to Ukraine and allowing Ukraine to attack targets in Russia.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed in an interview with Reuters that Ukraine is in talks with international partners about the possibility of striking targets in Russia with their weapons.

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