NATO’s chief has given Kyiv the green light to conduct “strikes” on legitimate military targets inside Russia which risks escalating the conflict wider into Europe.
NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine has the right to attack targets inside Russia using Western supplied weaponry in order to defend themselves.
On Thursday the NATO chief told the Financial Times that Ukraine does have the legal right to defend their country by conducting strikes on “legitimate military targets inside Russia.”
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On Tuesday Stoltenberg justified his position by telling Radio Liberty, “This is Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine, which is a blatant violation of international law.
“And according to international law, Ukraine has the right to self-defense. And it also includes strikes against legitimate military targets, Russian military targets outside of Ukraine.
“That’s international law, and of course, Ukraine has the right to do that to defend itself.”
Stoltenberg said during the interview with Radio Liberty that it is up to each NATO country for them to decide “for itself whether it has any reservations about what it supplies.”
In light of Vladimir Putin’s warnings to Ukraine and NATO, he said that “different allies have slightly different policies on this.
Putin has repeatedly said over the past two years in multiple warnings that by Ukraine using Western supplied weaponry, risks escalating the conflict.
Putin’s patience could be running thin with the alliance as this week Russia has threatened to shoot down NATO aircraft over the Black Sea which would instantly trigger Article 5.
Russia are acting as they did during the Cold War and by threatening NATO planes over the Black Sea could be seen as a sign that Putin’s forces are in “difficulty on the battlefield in Ukraine.”
French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu, told RTL, “Russia’s behavior in 2024 is no longer at all the same as what we experienced in 2022.
“This can be explained by the fact that Russia is in difficulty on the battlefield in Ukraine.
“You have Russian takeover attempts. A month ago, a Russian air control system threatened to shoot down French planes in the Black Sea.
“It’s as old as the Cold War, we have the return of Russian positioning particularly aggressive. Russia plays with thresholds of aggressiveness.”
This week the Russian embassy in London accused the government of “hypocrisy” and giving “lip service” whilst interfering with their affairs and killing their citizens with “British ordnance.”
The Russian embassy in London wrote on X, “Bluntly intervening into Russia’s internal affairs while paying lip service to the principle of sovereignty is trademark UK government hypocrisy.
“In the meantime, Russian citizens are being killed with British ordnance and missiles supplied to the failing Kiev regime.”
