The High Representative of the European Union (EU) for foreign policy and security, Josep Borelj, is stepping up pressure on Ukraine's Western allies to lift restrictions on its use of weapons, while assessing that it has the right to target places from which it is attacked.
It is absurd to say that allowing targets on Russian territory means waging war directly against Moscow, Borelj said in Brussels on August 30, on the eve of the second day of the informal meeting of EU defense ministers.
"No one wants a war with Russia, but put yourself in the shoes of the Ukrainians: the Russians are bombing you from a place you cannot reach. You would like to fight with equal chances," Borelj said.
And in order for Ukraine to be able to do that, it needs to be able to target the places from where Russia launches its attacks, he added.
Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have repeatedly called on Ukraine's allies to allow Ukraine to attack military targets deep inside Russia, with weapons provided by the West.
They say that despite the new weapons deliveries, their armed forces remain at a disadvantage, as Western restrictions prevent Ukraine from using long-range weapons for attacks deep inside Russian territory.
"Long-term security for Europe begins with short-term, bold decisions for Ukraine," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters in Brussels on August 29.
Earlier this month, Ukraine launched an incursion into Russian territory, and Zelensky said Russia "must feel what it has done."
In recent days, Russia has responded with some of the most ferocious rocket and drone attacks on cities and critical civilian infrastructure across Ukraine.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed on August 29 that a Western-provided F-16 fighter jet crashed while repelling a Russian missile attack and their drones.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on August 29 that Russian forces were carrying out "two key tactical operations" as part of their offensive to capture the strategic city of Pokrovsk, in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.
The first is along the Novohrodivka-Hrodivka line, east of Pokrovsko, with the aim of advancing to the outskirts of the city. The second is along the Selidove-Ukrainsk-Hirnik line in the southeast, with the aim of "eliminating the vulnerability of Ukrainian counterattacks."
The Russian military considers the operations key to an "intensified offensive effort against Pokrovsk," ISW said.
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