Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said it is only a matter of time before western allies allow his forces to strike targets inside Russia with weapons they have provided.
Zelenskyy was speaking at the Nordic Summit in Stockholm and complained to delegates that Russia had a tactical advantage, saying “the way they attack and we can’t…this is not normal,” referring to Russian strikes on Ukrainian territory.
“I think that using any weapon, western kind of weapon, on the territory of Russia is a question of time. I think so. Otherwise, it’s not about a just peace, as they can stay just on their territory and through the border line just attack us and kill, like it is now going on,” he said.
His comments come a day after two anonymous US officials indicated that the Biden administration was prepared to let Ukraine use American weaponry to strike inside Russia but only in the defence of the northern region of Kharkiv.
The officials pointed out, however, that White House policy that US arms should not be used to target Russia remained unchanged.
Speaking in Prague, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the “stakes couldn’t be higher” for Ukraine.
“We know that if Russian aggression is allowed to proceed in Ukraine with impunity it will not stop with Ukraine. And other would-be aggressors in other parts of the world will take note and consider pursuing their own aggressions,” he said.
That modest shift in position in Washington was echoed on Friday by Germany, Ukraine’s second-largest supplier of weaponry after the United States.
