Joe Biden, who has refused to do so until now, has given the green light for Ukraine to strike targets on Russian soil, in the Kharkiv region, under certain conditions, an American official said on Thursday.
“The president has tasked his team with ensuring that Ukraine can use American weapons to counterattack in the Kharkiv region, so as to retaliate when Russian forces attack them or prepare to attack them “, said this source.
The official, who requested anonymity, added, however, that the United States continued to oppose Ukrainian strikes deep into Russian territory.
“Our position on prohibiting the use of ATACMS or deep strikes inside Russia has not changed,” he said.
ATACMS are long-range missiles supplied by the Americans to Ukraine, capable of reaching a distance of up to 300 kilometers.
Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, is the almost daily target of bombings coming mainly from Russian territory.
Russia launched an offensive in the region at the beginning of May, and is gaining ground against a struggling Ukrainian army.
The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken suggested on Wednesday that the United States had changed its position in terms of Ukrainian strikes on Russian soil.
“As conditions have changed, as the battlefield has changed, as Russia has changed the way it conducts its aggression, we have adapted and adjusted and I am confident that we will continue to do so,” he said. he told the press during a visit to Moldova, a country bordering Ukraine.
NATO is pushing Western capitals to lift restrictions that “tie the hands behind the backs of the Ukrainians”, in the words of its Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, a position supported by several countries, including France.
The Kremlin, for its part, criticized the Atlantic alliance for launching “a new cycle of escalation”.
NATO called to lift restrictions on weapons supplied to Kyiv
Ukraine’s allied countries must let it strike Russia with the weapons they provide, Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg demanded Thursday in Prague, shortly before the start of an Alliance ministerial meeting. Atlantic.
PHOTO NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said he is in favor of supplying some weapons to Ukraine, but several allied countries of Ukraine, including the United States, are much more reluctant.
“I think it is time to call into question some of these restrictions in order to allow the Ukrainians to defend themselves,” in light of the recent fighting, he said at a conference in Prague, where Thursday evening and Friday the NATO foreign ministers.
Moscow launched an offensive on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, located not far from the Russian border.
The debate on the use or not on Russian territory of some of the weapons supplied to Kyiv by the West, in this case long-range missiles, is agitating the capitals of the Alliance countries.
Several countries, including France, are in favor of it, but others, such as the United States, are much more reluctant, fearing a direct conflict with Moscow.
The Kremlin on Thursday accused NATO of “provoking” Ukraine to prolong “a senseless war” after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the Allies on Tuesday of “serious consequences” if they were to give the green light.
Tuesday in Berlin, French President Emmanuel Macron was in favor of it. More evasive, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has not explicitly lifted his veto on the use on Russian territory of the weapons that his country supplies to Kyiv.
Long-range missiles
And all the more so since Berlin refuses to supply Ukraine with the long-range Taurus missiles that it is manufacturing, even though they are urgently requested by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“The Czech Republic has no problem with Ukraine defending itself against the (Russian) aggressor, including through attacks which necessarily must take place on Russian soil,” the Czech Foreign Minister declared on Thursday. , Jan Lipavsky, host of this meeting which begins Thursday evening with a working dinner.
The head of Norwegian diplomacy, Espen Barth Eide, also said he was in favor.
“Otherwise, we impose a limit on Ukraine that makes victory more difficult,” he said in Prague.
France intends to raise this subject during this meeting, in the hope of changing the minds of the most reluctant countries which are, in addition to Germany, Italy and the United States.
“President Macron’s ideas will help the Allies” who believe that these restrictions must disappear, said a NATO diplomat.
The discussions should also focus on the need, which becomes more urgent every day, to provide Ukraine with the anti-aircraft defense batteries and munitions that the Ukrainian forces, struggling on the battlefield, are insistently demanding.
Patriot Systems
“Today, we have 25% of what we need to defend Ukraine, I am talking about air defense systems” in particular the American Patriot systems, recalled Mr. Zelensky on May 18 in an interview with the AFP.
Its request to receive at least seven of these batteries has so far only resulted in the sending of a single copy, by Germany.
The ministers will also prepare the NATO summit scheduled for Washington in July and discuss an envelope of 100 billion euros to help Ukraine in the long term. But several allied countries are questioning the content of this proposal launched by Mr. Stoltenberg.
“Everyone understands the need to announce something substantial, but we don’t want it to be just fluff either,” summed up a NATO diplomat.
The Allies, on the other hand, seem more united on a passing of the torch between the United States and NATO with regard to the coordination of military aid to Ukraine.
This transfer to NATO is supposed to guarantee the continuity of this military aid in the event of Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Several NATO countries fear that he will seek to put an end to it, if he were to be elected in November.
Thursday in Prague, Mr. Stoltenberg confirmed that in Washington, NATO would seek to “strengthen” its support for Ukraine, by regaining control over coordination and thanks to a “multi-year financial commitment” that he however, did not quantify.