“We believe that we must allow them to neutralize the military sites from which Ukraine is attacked, but we cannot allow other civilian points or other military targets to be touched,” Macron said at a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. at Meseberg Castle, near Berlin.
“If we tell them that they do not have the right to reach the point from which the missiles are fired, we are in fact telling them that we provide you with weapons, but that you cannot defend yourself”, underlined Macron, on the last day of a state visit to Germany.
“But we must not allow other targets in Russia to be hit, and obviously civilian capabilities,” he added.
NATO is putting pressure on Western capitals to lift restrictions that “tie the hands behind the backs of Ukrainians”, 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 soil is roiling Washington and European capitals. The most reticent so far – Rome and Berlin in particular – are brandishing the risk of escalation and extension of the conflict, with the underlying risk of Russian President Vladimir Putin using nuclear weapons.
“We don’t want an escalation,” repeated Macron. “What has changed is that Russia has adapted its practices a little” and is attacking Ukraine from bases in Russia.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, today urged European Union member states to find a balance between the fear of escalation and the need for Ukrainians to defend themselves, saying that Kiev should be able to attack Russian soil with Western weapons.
On Monday, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, an independent institution of the Atlantic Alliance, approved a declaration of support for Ukraine’s ability to attack military targets in Russia also with weapons supplied by allied countries.
The text was approved by 47 of the 56 countries or institutions that make up the organization, which serves as a link between NATO and the parliaments of the Atlantic Alliance member countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin today warned Europe of “serious consequences” if NATO countries allow Ukraine to use Western weapons against targets on Russian territory.
“These representatives of NATO countries, especially in Europe, especially in small countries, must know what they are playing with,” Putin said at a press conference at the end of a visit to Uzbekistan.
“You must remember that, as a general rule, these are states with small but densely populated territories,” he said.
Putin insisted that this is the factor that Western countries “must take into account before talking about launching attacks inside Russian territory.”
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