PRAGUE – Ukraine would have a good military reason to invade Russia using Western weapons, a NATO military official said on Saturday.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with US President Joe Biden at the White House on Friday as Ukraine's allies discussed allowing Kyiv to use long-range missiles against Russian targets.
President Vladimir Putin has said that the West will be fighting Russia directly if it allows Ukraine to attack with long-range missiles made by the West.
At a meeting in Prague of the Military Committee of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – the highest military officer in this alliance – its chairman Admiral Rob Bauer said that the law on armed conflict gives the nation the right to defend itself and that does not stop at its border.
At the same time, he said, countries supplying weapons also have the right to impose restrictions on their use.
He said: “Militarily, you do (that attack) because you want to weaken the enemy who is attacking you so that you not only fight the missiles coming towards you, but also attack the missile.”
“So, militarily, there's a good reason to do that; to weaken the enemy, to weaken their supply lines, fuel, ammunition coming forward.”
One side of the discussion was political, he said, as countries that provide weapons may feel responsible for them, and those political discussions are ongoing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been asking allies to allow Ukraine to use Western missiles, including long-range US ATACMS and British Storm Shadows, deep into Russian territory to limit Moscow's ability to launch attacks.
Putin said on Thursday that the real plan for the missile runways will have to be done by NATO forces, because Kyiv does not have the power itself.
