NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has dismissed recent warnings by Russian President Vladimir Putin that permitting Kyiv to use Western weapons for strikes inside Russian territory might lead to an escalation. Speaking at a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Prague, Stoltenberg stated that such threats are not new and that Putin has consistently used similar warnings whenever NATO allies support Ukraine.
"This is nothing new. It has been the case for a long time that every time NATO allies are providing support to Ukraine, President Putin is trying to threaten us to not do that," Stoltenberg told reporters on Friday. He emphasized that any escalation is on Russia, saying, "Russia has escalated by invading another country."
Earlier this week, Putin warned NATO members against allowing Ukraine to fire their weapons into Russia, raising the risk of nuclear war. This came after several NATO allies lifted restrictions on the use of donated weapons by Kyiv. In a significant policy shift, US President Joe Biden authorized Kyiv to use US-supplied weapons inside Russia, but only targeting areas near the border with the Kharkiv region, where Russia has launched an offensive.
The US remains the largest arms donor to Ukraine. Stoltenberg defended Ukraine's right to strike legitimate military targets inside Russia, noting that the borderline and frontline near Kharkiv are nearly the same. "Of course, it makes it very hard for Ukraine to defend themselves if they are not allowed to use advanced weapons to repel those attacks," he said. "Ukraine has the right for self-defense, we have the right to help Ukraine uphold the right for self-defense, and that does not make NATO allies a party to the conflict."
Stoltenberg reiterated that this stance has been consistent since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In Berlin, a German government spokesman confirmed that Ukraine could use weapons supplied by Berlin to defend itself against attacks launched from just inside Russia against the Kharkiv border region, in accordance with international law.
Following Putin's warning, Dmitry Medvedev, a senior Russian security official, stated that Moscow was not bluffing about the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine and warned that the conflict with the West could escalate into an all-out war.
