French President Emmanuel Macron said today that he is in favor of allowing Ukraine to attack military bases inside Russia with long-range weapons provided by Western partners.
Today, Macron joined the earlier statements of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who also advocated for a change in that position, due to the complexity of the war in Ukraine.
The question of whether to allow Ukraine to hit targets on Russian soil with Western-supplied weapons has been a delicate one ever since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Western leaders have largely refrained from taking this step because it risks provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly warned that direct Western involvement could bring the world to the brink of nuclear conflict.
Macron said France’s position is that Ukraine must be allowed to neutralize Russian military sites from which it fires missiles.
“If we tell (Ukrainians) that they have no right to target the places from which missiles are being fired at them, we are in fact telling them that we will supply you with weapons, but that you cannot defend yourself with them,” Macron said at a press conference during official visits to Germany.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fijala said yesterday, ahead of a meeting with officials from Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Latvia on aid to Ukraine, that he believes that Kiev has the right to use Western weapons to target targets on Russian territory, Hina writes.
