Ukraine has the solid legal and military right to strike deep inside Russia to gain combat advantage, according to the Chair of the NATO Military Committee Admiral Rob Bauer.
“Every nation that is attacked has the right to defend itself. And that right doesn’t stop at the border of your own nation,” Bauer, who serves as the principal advisor to NATO’s secretary general said, speaking at the closing of the annual meeting in Prague of NATO’s Military Committee. He also said that nations supplying weapons to Kyiv have the right to limit their use.
These deliberations arose amidst the recent meeting between Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday. U.S. officials suggested that Starmer was seeking Biden’s approval to permit Ukraine to use British Storm Shadow missiles for broader strikes within Russia. Ukraine and its U.S. and European allies are urging Biden to lift restrictions on Western long-range weapons, with indications that he may reconsider his policy, however, no decision has been made immediately. The U.S. has been cautious in approving Ukraine’s requests for advanced military equipment due to concerns about escalating the conflict with Russia.
No visible policy shift was observed in the stance of Western leaders as it wasn’t clear Saturday if the debate over the U.S. restrictions was discussed. The U.S. permits Ukraine to use American weapons for cross-border strikes but restricts long-range missiles like ATACMS from targeting deep within Russia.
“You want to weaken the enemy that attacks you in order to not only fight the arrows that come your way, but also attack the archer that is, as we see, very often operating from Russia proper into Ukraine,” said Bauer. “So militarily, there’s a good reason to do that, to weaken the enemy, to weaken its logistic lines, fuel, ammunition that comes to the front. That is what you want to stop, if at all possible.” But risks of escalation should also be taken into consideration, according to US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, arguing that one weapons system won’t determine success in the war.
Moscow officials have warned that long-range strikes could become a flashpoint for increased aggression between Russia and the West. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state news agency Tass on Saturday that the US and British governments were pushing the conflict toward “poorly controlled escalation.”
