Stoltenberg: NATO Countries Must Reconsider Restrictions on Use of Weapons Provided to Ukraine

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg insists that the allies need to reconsider the restrictions on Ukraine's ban on the use of Western weapons against Russia amid border fighting in the Kharkiv region.

Stoltenberg said this at a press conference in Sofia today.

The NATO Secretary General noted that Ukraine is fighting a war of aggression and has the right to self-defence under international law.

"The right to self-defence includes the right to strike legitimate military targets outside Ukraine. This is part of self-defence. We can see this clearly in the fighting in Kharkiv region, because Russian troops are on Russian territory, attacking Ukrainian territory on the border. 

The front line is more or less along the border, and if you can't attack Russian forces on the other side of the front because they are on the other side of the border, then you really reduce the ability of Ukrainian forces to defend themselves," the NATO Secretary General explained. 

He added that in such circumstances, the Russians can attack without being attacked in return. In this context, Stoltenberg called on allies who have imposed restrictions on the use of weapons they have provided to Ukraine to reconsider these restrictions.

"My message is that we have to look at these restrictions, because by having too many restrictions, we are tying one hand to the Ukrainian armed forces," the NATO Secretary General said.

Recently, the NATO Secretary General also voiced this message in an interview with The Economist.

In turn, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly has called on Allied governments to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike targets in the Russian Federation. This was announced by the head of the Verkhovna Rada's permanent delegation to the NATO PA, Yehor Chernev.