Ukraine has been urged to cross one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s so-called red lines by a NATO ally as Kiev grapples with a shortage of battlefield weapons. Newsweek reports this in its analysis.
Putin has repeatedly warned NATO countries that they risk widening the war if they give Kiev weapons that can reach targets in Russia. Despite the threats, such weapons have since been given to Ukraine, with no sign of retaliation from Putin.
Finland, which joined NATO last year even though Putin has opposed expanding the strategic alliance and cited related concerns as the reason for the invasion of Ukraine, approved a new $205 million military aid package for Ukraine earlier this month.
Finland’s Defense Minister Antti Hakanen said in comments to the Finnish National Broadcasting Company on Thursday that Ukraine could use weapons provided by Finland to strike targets in Russia, The Kyiv Independent claimed.
Hakanen noted that Ukraine’s other allies have provided “long-range missile systems” and have the right to “specify how they should be used.” He then called on Germany to send its long-range Taurus missiles to Kiev “if they want to help Ukraine win”.
Jukka Kopra of the Finnish parliament reportedly went a step further, saying that Ukraine “must” use Finnish-supplied weapons to attack “military targets on the Russian side.”
“Otherwise, these military objects will hit from the Ukrainian side. This is an absolutely legal defensive struggle that Ukraine is waging. The UN Charter allows attacking military targets across land borders,” Kopra said.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made similar remarks in comments to US state media Radio Liberty last week, saying Ukraine had the legal right to strike “legitimate military targets” in Russia with Western-supplied weapons.
“According to international law, Ukraine has the right to self-defense. This includes strikes against legitimate military targets, Russian military targets outside of Ukraine. This is international law and, of course, Ukraine has the right to defend itself,” Stoltenberg said.
Ukraine has recently suffered a series of military setbacks after aid cuts from Western allies. Recent losses include control of the town of Avdeyevka in Donetsk after months of fighting, while at least three additional settlements near the city were lost on Monday and Tuesday, Newsweek reported.
While $60 billion in additional US aid remains held up in Congress, some of Kiev’s European NATO allies have recently offered smaller amounts, and the European Union (EU) announced approval of a new $54 billion aid package for Ukraine earlier this month .
The EU package, however, is for aid spread out until 2027, while there have been other problems in supplying Ukraine with the promised weapons and ammunition quickly enough to matter to troops fighting on the battlefield.
Leon Hartwell, a senior fellow at the London School of Economics think tank LSE IDEAS, told Newsweek that Russia’s takeover of Avdeyevka was due in part to a “significant mismatch between Western promises of support for Ukraine and their actual delivery.”
“Ukrainian troops are operating at an extreme disadvantage, being outnumbered five to one on the front line, Avdeyevka being a horrific example. In light of these circumstances, how did we ever expect the Ukrainians to hold Avdeevka for so long?” Hartwell said.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the head of the UK’s armed forces, said earlier this week that Ukraine “is struggling in terms of its munitions and stockpiles and it is imperative that the rest of the world responds to that”, while suggesting that Kiev may not be able to launch a much-needed counteroffensive until next year.
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