Stoltenberg confirms Ukraine has right to attack military targets inside Russia

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that he supports Ukrainian strikes on military targets inside Russia.

He said this in an interview with Ukraine's United News telethon, Ukrinform reports, citing ArmyInform.

Stoltenberg said that Ukraine's right to attack legitimate military targets inside Russia is clearly defined by international law. Since this is a war that Russia started against Ukraine, then Ukraine has the right to self-defense, and this includes strikes on the aggressor's territory, he said.

He noted that different NATO countries had introduced different restrictions on the use of the weapons they provided to Ukraine, other countries have not set any restrictions at all, and some proposed introducing only some restrictions.

Stoltenberg said that now some of the allies were loosening their restrictions, including because of the hostilities that Russia is trying to carry out or is already carrying out in the Kharkiv region.

He explained that during the hostilities that continued on Ukrainian territory, Ukrainian forces still carried out strikes behind the conventional front line against Russian targets located on Ukrainian soil.

But in the case of the Kharkiv region, the front line and the Russian border almost coincide, so it cannot be expected that Ukraine will not attack artillery or airfields that are located on the other side of the front and, accordingly, the border. Therefore, Stoltenberg said he welcomed the decisions of NATO allies, which opened up the possibility of greater use of weapons to strike these targets.

Photo: Serhii Mykhalchuk