NATO's Stoltenberg urges lifting limits on weapons for Ukraine

Jens Stoltenberg announced on Thursday that "Ukraine's right of self-defence includes striking legitimate military targets inside Russia." According to the NATO Secretary General, Alliance members should reconsider the limitations on using weapons they provide to Kyiv.

"Allies are delivering many different types of military support to Ukraine and some of them have imposed some restrictions on the use of these weapons.... These are national decisions," Stoltenberg said in Prague during an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

He added that NATO must also consider how the course of this war is changing. In the beginning, nearly all the fighting occurred deep inside Ukraine's territory. In recent weeks and months, heavy battles have been happening along the border between Ukraine and Russia in the Kharkiv region.

The NATO Secretary General emphasized that currently, it could be seen that the Russians, being on their side of the border, which more or less is the front line, with their artillery, rocket launchers, airplanes, weapons and fuel depots - are safer than if they had been being attacked by the latest equipment that Ukraine had received.

Therefore, he believes that "the time has come to consider some of these restrictions, to enable the Ukrainians to really defend themselves."

"Ukraine has, according to international law, the right to self-defence, to defend themselves, and the right of self-defence includes also striking targets outside Ukraine, legitimate military targets inside Russia," he observed.

The NATO Secretary General also said that strengthening the Alliance must continue in light of Russian aggression and growing global competition. "We plan to put our support on a firmer footing," he said.

He recalled that in 2014, during the summit in Wales, when NATO member countries committed to spending at least 2% of their GDP on defense, only the United Kingdom, the United States, and Greece met this newly adopted commitment.

He noted that a report published in February indicated that 18 out of 32 countries spent at least 2% of their GDP.

He stated he expected that this number would increase before the NATO summit in Washington in July. He pointed out that since then, Sweden, which meets this requirement, has joined the Alliance. Stoltenberg also mentioned Norway but emphasized that some allies are already very close. He expressed hope that by the summit, there will be 20 or more such countries.