Germany Says Ukraine Can Use Its Weapons to Strike Inside Russia

Berlin has given Ukraine permission to fire German-delivered weapons at targets in Russia, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s spokesman said Friday, matching a move by the United States.

Kyiv has the “right under international law to defend itself” against attacks coming from inside Russia, Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement.

Attacks from Russian territory have increased in recent weeks, in particular around the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, where Russia’s forces launched a surprise ground offensive earlier this month.

Germany and other Western allies backing Kyiv are “convinced that Ukraine has the right… to defend itself against these attacks,” Hebestreit said. “To this end, it can also use the weapons supplied for this purpose… including those supplied by us.”

Germany, Kyiv’s biggest military backer behind only the United States, has sent large shipments of military equipment to Ukraine, including heavy artillery and rocket launchers.

Berlin has up until now been reluctant to allow Ukraine to use German weapons to strike Russian targets for fear of escalating the conflict.

But with Ukrainian forces coming under increased pressure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pleaded with Western allies for more weapons and a freer hand in deploying those already delivered.

U.S. officials said Thursday that President Joe Biden had lifted restrictions on American-supplied weapons by giving Kyiv permission to strike targets in Russia as it defends the Kharkiv region.