Ukraine wants to use donated weapons to attack targets inside Russia, but its allies are split on the issue.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Ukraine should be free to hit targets inside Russia in response to a direct threat of attack, wading into a debate that’s dividing Kyiv’s allies.
“We have to allow [Ukrainians] to neutralize the military sites from which the missiles are fired, but not other civilian or military targets. We’re not being escalatory by doing this,” he said on Tuesday, speaking alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Scholz was more cautious, saying that Ukraine’s use of Western weapons “must always be within the framework of international law.”
The two leaders’ comments are part of a broader debate roiling Ukraine’s Western allies.
What about striking an aggressor on their home territory would be against international law?
Israel is showing how much international law means and how far “self defence” can take you with weapon deliveries.
If Scholz was actually saying “fire at Russia, but don’t target their hospitals” it’d be a little insulting but, given Israel, it’s okay to make a better-safe-than-warcriming statement. But Ukraine hasn’t asked to do terrorism and Germany very much is not giving them a green light to fire at universally accepted military targets inside Russia.