US State Department: Ukraine Does Not Need Our Permission to Strike Back Russian Targets

At a briefing yesterday, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller reiterated that ‘Ukraine does not need our permission to retaliate against Russian targets’. 

‘Ukraine does not need our permission to retaliate against Russian targets.  They are a sovereign country, and they can use the weapons that they develop on their own, and they have a lot of them if you look at the programmes that they have introduced over the last year,’ Miller said.

‘In terms of the weapons we have provided them, we have made it clear that they can use them to retaliate against Russian targets that are attacking across the border,’ the US State Department spokesman added.

He reminded that the US had recently announced an additional $8 billion in security assistance to Ukraine and assured of further support for Kyiv, including additional tools that could be provided.