“We believe that we should allow them to neutralize the military sites from which the attack on Ukraine is being carried out, but we cannot allow other civilian points or other military targets to be touched,” Macron said at a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Schulz at Meseberg Castle. , near Berlin.
Macron added: “If we tell them that they do not have the right to reach the point from which missiles are launched, then we are in fact telling them that we are supplying you with weapons, but you cannot defend yourselves.” State visit day to Germany.
He added: “But we must not allow other targets in Russia, and certainly civilian capabilities, to be struck.”
NATO is putting pressure on Western capitals to lift restrictions that “tie hands behind the Ukrainians’ backs,” in the words of its Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
The debate over whether or not Western weapons supplied to Ukraine should be used on Russian territory is worrying Washington and European capitals. The most conservative states so far – Rome and Berlin in particular – loom the risk of escalation and expansion of the conflict, with the inherent danger of Russian President Vladimir Putin using nuclear weapons.
Macron repeated: “We do not want escalation.” “What has changed is that Russia has modified its practices a little bit” and is attacking Ukraine from bases in Russia.
European diplomacy chief Josep Borrell today urged EU member states to find a balance between fear of escalation and the Ukrainians’ need to defend themselves, saying Kiev must be able to attack Russian territory with Western weapons.
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly, an independent NATO institution, on Monday approved a declaration supporting Ukraine’s ability to attack military targets also in Russia with weapons supplied by allied countries.
The text has been approved by 47 countries or institutions out of the 56 countries that make up the organization, which acts as a link between NATO and the parliaments of NATO member states.
Russian President Vladimir Putin today warned Europe of “serious consequences” if NATO countries allow Ukraine to use Western weapons against targets on Russian territory.
“Representatives of NATO countries, especially in Europe, and especially small countries, must know what they are playing at,” Putin said at a press conference at the conclusion of a visit to Uzbekistan.
“You have to remember that, as a general rule, these countries have small areas but high population densities,” he said.
Putin stressed that this is the factor that “Western countries must take into account before talking about launching attacks inside Russian territory.”
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