German Chancellor Olaf Scholz opposed the use of weapons provided by Berlin for strikes on Russian territory.
He stated this at a meeting with citizens, Tagesschau reports.
In particular, he said that he currently sees no reason to expand the range of Western weapons in the war in Ukraine.
According to him, there are "clear rules that have been agreed with Ukraine and are in effect" for the supply of German weapons.
"Thatʼs my position anyway," he added.
According to him, such a policy is to "prevent the conflict from escalating into a major war."
Until now, as a condition for providing weapons to Ukraine, Germany demanded that Kyiv not use them for strikes on the territory of Russia.
In view of the increasingly difficult military situation in Ukraine, Anton Hofreiter, a member of the Bundestag and a foreign policy expert of the Soyuz 90/Greens party, recently called for Ukraine to be allowed to attack Russian territory with Western weapons. He emphasized that in this case "it is about the protection of the Ukrainian population."
- Against the background of the new Russian offensive on the Kharkiv region, Ukraine calls on its allies, in particular the United States, to cancel the ban on the use of weapons provided by them for attacks on the territory of Russia. Above all, senior Ukrainian officials say that such a ban prevented Ukraine from attacking the positions of Russian troops when they were preparing the last offensive. They claim that Ukraine needs to attack military depots on enemy territory for its own defense. For example, the Ukrainian authorities watched the Russians gather near the border for weeks, but due to the policies of many allies, Ukraine was unable to use the weapons provided by them for a pre-emptive strike.
- Russia is well aware of this limitation, which is why it was able to concentrate military equipment and at least 30,000 soldiers on the border, without fear of damage, for example, by US-provided ATACMS ballistic missiles, with which Ukraine successfully destroyed the enemy on the front.
- Meanwhile, Great Britain allows Ukraine to strike with its weapons on the territory of the Russian Federation. The countryʼs foreign secretary, David Cameron, said this month that Ukraine has the right to use London-provided weapons to strike targets in Russia — it is up to Kiev to decide whether to do so.
- And Blinken said at a press conference in Ukraine with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba on May 15 that Washington does not encourage strikes against Russia with American weapons, but "Ukraine must decide for itself what to do." At the same time, officially, the position of the White House on this issue remains unchanged. However, the US State Department is stimulating debate in the Administration of President Joe Biden regarding its mitigation.