On Thursday 11 July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the Allies to lift the restrictions imposed on his country concerning the possibility of striking military targets on Russian territory using Western equipment.
“If we want to win, if we want to prevail, if we want to save our country and defend it, we need to lift all limitations”, he stressed during a press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg before the NATO-Ukraine Council in Washington. He said he hoped to obtain the “authorisation to strike Russian territory exactly where (the Russian equipment attacking Ukraine) is located”.
“We understand from what military base they attack us, and if they attacked us and killed our children in the hospital, that is crazy question why we can’t answer and attack this person, this military base, where from these guided bombs from jets, or missile came, targeted us, killed our children?” he asked, referring to a strike on a hospital in Kyiv.
According to the Ukrainian President, “If we really want Ukraine on the map and not have Putin win, who has attacked half the planet”, then we need to take “concrete steps very, very quickly”. Earlier in the day, at the NATO Public Forum, his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said that lifting the restrictions could be a “game changer”.
For his part, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg pointed out that, under international law, Ukraine had the right to defend itself, which “includes also the right to strike legitimate military targets on the territory of the aggressor Russia”.
“The only way to hit military targets, missile launchers or airfields carrying out attacks against Ukraine is to hit military targets on Russian territory, because the front line and the border are more or less the same”, he explained. He added that there was “no doubt” that Ukraine had the right to use the weapons received from the Allies to strike “legitimate military targets” on Russian territory.
Asked about Mr Zelensky’s request, US President Joe Biden pointed out that the United States had allowed him to use US weapons close to the Ukrainian border in Russia. “If Mr Zelensky had the ability to strike at Moscow, to strike at the Kremlin, would that make sense? No”, said Mr Biden, adding that “the question (was) what (was) the best use of the weaponry that Mr Zelensky has and the weaponry” that the United States supplies him with.
The NATO-Ukraine Council declaration issued at the end of the meeting states that “NATO will support and advise on the design and implementation of an integrated air and missile defence architecture for Ukraine, to enable the most efficient use of Ukraine’s air and missile defence capabilities and support its transition to full interoperability with NATO”.
Additional support from the Allies
The NATO-Ukraine Council welcomed the commitments made to deliver additional air defence systems and other military capabilities to Kyiv. On the same day, and following announcements by the Allies the previous day that they were sending missile defence systems and F16s (see EUROPE 13450/1), the United States announced new support of around $225 million, including air defence systems and interceptors, missiles and munitions and anti-tank weapons. Mr Zelensky welcomed the new Allied announcements on air defence systems, saying he hoped “that they will be delivered as soon as possible in order to save as many lives as possible”.
Mr Stoltenberg also recalled all the decisions taken the previous day by the Allies to support Kyiv - including financial support of €40 billion for the coming year and the setting up of the ‘NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine’ (NSATU) - and stressed the irreversibility of the Euro-Atlantic integration process.
Mr Zelensky welcomed these decisions, including the “strong wording” on irreversibility, and felt that the next step was an official invitation to join NATO, followed by membership. He reiterated that Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance was in the interest not only of his country, but also of the Alliance.
“The greatest guarantee of security for Ukraine is NATO membership”, commented Mr Yermak.
Russian threat to European security
Asked about the neutralisation of a Russian plot earlier in the year to assassinate Armin Papperger, the managing director of Rheinmetall AG, a German arms manufacturer supplying weapons to Ukraine - revealed by CNN - Mr Stoltenberg refused to comment, but pointed out that there was “a Russian campaign organised by the security services to carry out hostile actions against NATO allies across the alliance, with attempts at sabotage, cyber attacks, arson and different types of hostile actions”.
The Allies’ declaration adopted the previous day reiterated that hybrid operations against Allies could reach the threshold of an armed attack and lead the North Atlantic Council to invoke Article 5 of the Washington Treaty.
Mr Stoltenberg also pointed out that Russian attempts to intimidate the Allies and prevent them from supporting Ukraine had produced the opposite effect to the one intended. “What we have seen over the past month is that the NATO Allies have not been intimidated”, he stressed. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)