NATO countries that supply weapons to Ukraine should allow Kiev’s armed forces to also use them to strike military targets in Russia. He said it, in an interview with the Economist, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. According to the British weekly, the leader of the Alliance is referring in particular to the United States. “It’s time for the allies to consider lifting some of the restrictions on the use of weapons that they have given to Ukraine,” he said in the interview, citing in particular the ongoing battles in the Kharkiv area. “Denying Ukraine the ability to use these weapons against legitimate military targets on Russian territory makes it very difficult for them to defend themselves,” he explained.
The British newspaper explains how it has long been a source of frustration for the Ukrainians that, to hit targets on Russian territory, they have to depend on home-made drones, i.e. tools with limited usefulness and effectiveness. Their anger has been simmering since May 10, when the Russians they began a major offensive across the border just 32 km from Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine. The city had already been subjected to aerial bombardment for several months. Stoltenberg does not expect this action to lead to a turning point for Moscow. “They will continue to push and gain some ground, and they are willing to pay a very high price for these marginal gains,” he said. But he warns that Ukraine is in trouble. And he has harsh words for European NATO members: “The European allies promised a million artillery shells,” he said. “We haven’t seen anything like this.”
In an interview with AFP on May 17, Volodymyr Zelensky, president of Ukraine, asked for permission to use donated weapons on Russian targets. He stressed that their use would be defensive at a time when Putin’s troops are trying to exploit manpower and ammunition shortages, the latter due to delayed American support and broken promises from Europe. Western governments, he said, want “Ukraine to win so that Russia does not lose.” Some Western analysts, writes the Economist, say that America has been trying to manage the way Ukraine fights since the war began. The Americans repeatedly denied Ukraine the weapons it urgently requested, only to give in many months later. The list included the Hears multiple rocket launch system, Abrams tanks, F-16 fighter jets and Atacms, a tactical ballistic missile system. The justification has always been that Washington wanted to avoid provoking an escalation avoiding an overreaction by Vladimir Putin, particularly with the use of tactical nuclear weapons. After the French president, Emmanuel Macron, raised the possibility of deploying NATO forces in Ukraine in May, Putin ordered nuclear exercises to be held in Belarus. However, aside from sabre-rattling, Russia’s nuclear threats have accomplished nothing.
Stoltenberg acknowledged the risk of escalation. The task, he said, is “prevent this war from becoming a real war between Russia and NATO in Europe“. But he made a distinction between the supply of weapons and military training and engagement. “We provide training, weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, but we will not be directly involved from NATO territory in combat operations on or in Ukraine . So it’s a different thing.” Stoltenberg drew a similar line on the proposal to station troops in Ukraine if the government requests them, an idea supported by Macron. “That’s not the plan… We have no intention of sending troops of NATO ground in Ukraine, because our purpose… is twofold: to support Ukraine, as we do, but also to ensure that there is no escalation into a large-scale conflict.”
There are now signs that America may be moving toward giving Ukraine more leeway in striking targets on Russian soil. After visiting Kiev last week, Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, reportedly explained to Washington the need to allow Kiev to strike military bases and missile batteries a few kilometers from Russia. These, the Economistl further explains, are used to strike Kharkiv and the troops defending it. A few days earlier David Cameron, the British Foreign Secretary, had declared that Ukraine was free to use British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles to strike targets in Russia. Lloyd Austin, the US secretary of defense, recently hinted that Russian planes dropping bombs from Russian airspace could be legitimate targets for US missiles.
However, Stoltenberg distinguishes between allowing Ukraine to attack targets in Russia with systems donated by the West and any direct NATO involvement in the conflict. His predecessor, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, asked on May 14 that Eastern European NATO countries be allowed to use ground-based air defenses to shoot down Russian missiles and drones headed for Ukraine. Stoltenberg rejected this idea: “We will not be part of the conflict“, he has declared.