Western nations are increasingly calling for permission to allow attacks on Russian territory using weapons that they have supplied to the Ukrainian military. This urgency has grown as Russia builds up troops on the border in preparation for a potential offensive. The NATO Parliamentary Assembly and officials from countries like Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Sweden have urged NATO members to lift the ban on firing Western weapons into Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has questioned why they can’t use weapons to destroy Russian troops massing on the border to prevent them from being united in a single operation.
The calls to expand the use of Western weapons by Ukraine mostly target the United States, the largest supplier of arms to the Ukrainian government. Washington has been reluctant to allow Ukraine to fire U.S.-made weapons into Russian territory to avoid escalating the conflict, but there is now debate within the Biden administration on relaxing this ban. Russian President Vladimir V. Putin has warned Western countries to be aware of the consequences of aiding Ukraine in striking into Russia. Ukrainian officials argue that the ban allows Russian forces to launch attacks from inside Russian territory without risk, hindering their ability to defend against them.
The Ukrainian military has currently limited its use of Western weapons to hit targets in Russian-occupied territory within Ukraine. Recent attacks in the Russian-held city of Luhansk have been attributed to Ukraine, with explosions and fires reported. Ukraine’s reliance on long-range Western missiles to target Russian military installations has been evident, but they lack the capability to launch powerful missiles or long-range artillery into important military complexes within Russia. Countries like Latvia, Britain, and Sweden have supported allowing Ukraine to use their weapons to strike inside Russia to degrade Moscow’s military operations.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has stated that countries supplying weapons to Ukraine can individually decide whether to allow their use against targets inside Russia. While Ukraine’s right to defend itself includes striking legitimate targets in Russia, debates around lifting the ban on using Western weapons in Russian territory continue. Ukraine has received increased military support from countries like Spain and Belgium, who have signed bilateral security agreements and pledged military aid to deter further Russian aggression.
Ukrainian President Zelensky has traveled to Spain and Belgium to sign security agreements, with commitments from over 30 countries to provide security assistance to Ukraine. Belgium has pledged to provide 30 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine over the next four years, raising questions about whether they could be used to down Russian warplanes in Russian airspace. The ongoing discussion around Ukraine’s ability to strike inside Russia reflects the heightened tensions in the region and the increasing support from Western nations for Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression.
