Image source, SERGÉI KOZLOV/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
- Author, Paul Kirby
- Role, BBC News
Russia has accused NATO and the United States of “provoking a new level of tension” after the United States and Germany became the latest allies to allow the Ukrainian army to use weapons supplied by the West to strike targets in Russia.
A Berlin spokesman said Germany believed Ukraine had the right to defend itself against Russia, including against cross-border attacks on its second-largest city, Kharkiv.
U.S. officials said U.S.-supplied weapons could be used to counter Russian fire near the Kharkiv region, either where Russian forces were “hitting them or preparing to hit them.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the move would help protect civilians living in villages near the Russian border.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said NATO countries, particularly the United States and several European countries, had “entered a new phase of escalating tensions and are doing so deliberately “, in comments quoted by the Tass news agency.
“They are in every possible way inciting Ukraine to continue this senseless war.”
Russian forces have advanced in the Kharkiv region in recent weeks after a surprise offensive in this area near the border with Russia.
The United Kingdom and France had already indicated they were willing to ease restrictions on Ukrainian strikes on military sites on Russian territory, before US President Joe Biden said on Thursday evening that state-supplied weapons -United States could be used.
However, a US official told the BBC: “Our policy on prohibiting the use of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) or long-range strikes inside Russia has not not changed. »
German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said Friday that Berlin was “jointly convinced” that Ukraine had the right to defend itself against a Russian attack.
“To do this, it can also use weapons provided for this purpose in accordance with its international legal obligations, including those provided by us,” he said.
Germany has yet to supply Ukraine with its powerful Taurus missiles, while the United Kingdom has supplied Storm Shadow missiles and France has handed over its Scalp cruise missiles.
Russia said Friday it had pushed Ukrainian forces back to within 9 km of the border in the Kharkiv region, adding that it now controlled the hills near the village of Lyptsi. Kharkiv is just over 30 km from the Russian border.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated his message from earlier this week that the United States would continue to do what it has done so far, “that is, if necessary, adapt and adjust.”
He was speaking to reporters at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Prague, where the alliance’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, welcomed the decision to ease restrictions on use of weapons by Ukraine.
Questions have also been raised by NATO allies over the possible deployment of US-made F-16 warplanes beyond the Russian border.
Ukrainian pilots have been training on the F-16s in recent months and the first planes are expected to arrive in Ukraine this summer.
Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said its F-16s could be used to target weapons depots in Russia, which he called legitimate targets.
Denmark is to hand over 19 F-16s to Ukraine over the summer and Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has made it clear: “This is not carte blanche for Ukraine to use the F-16s to launch arbitrary attacks against Russia.”
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Friday refused to confirm that Danish F-16s could be used over Russian territory. She said the planes were about to fly over Ukraine, but “we won’t go into details.”
The Netherlands has avoided making any clear statements on the F-16s. Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot simply confirmed that the Dutch government “would allow Ukraine to use weapons on Russian soil if it is in full self-defense”, in accordance with the United Nations charter.
Belgian Alexander De Croo ruled out allowing Ukraine to use its F-16s against Russia during his meeting with President Zelensky earlier this week. Mr. De Croo met with President Biden at the White House on Friday.
Russian officials have made clear their anger at the prospect of F-16s being used on their territory. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the F-16s would be destroyed like everything supplied by NATO, and that this would not change the situation.
However, as the F-16s had long been used in NATO’s “so-called joint nuclear missions”, he warned that their provision to kyiv could only be seen “as a deliberate signal from NATO regarding nuclear weapons “.
News Source : www.bbc.com
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