"Until victory"

NATO chief: Use Western weapons in Russia!

Kiev is hoping for the delivery of F-16 jets soon.(Bild: AFP/Jan Langhaug)

NATO has called on its member states to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons against military targets in Russia. The time has come to lift some restrictions on the use of the weapons provided, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. 

At a spring meeting in the Bulgarian capital Sofia on Monday, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (PA) adopted a corresponding declaration with the motto "Standing by Ukraine until victory".

Stoltenberg cited the Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, where the front line and the border with Russia more or less coincided, as an example of a possible use of Western weapons. Ukraine would be weaker if we continued to support it only halfway, warned the President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (PA), Michal Szczerba from Poland.

Russian bombing raids in Kharkiv are putting Ukraine under severe pressure.(Bild: AFP)

The Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umjerow appealed in a video message for the allies to close the airspace over western Ukraine with their air defense systems. Umyerov reiterated that his country is striving for full NATO membership.

Selensky wants the green light
The reason for the renewed flare-up of the debate was the recent Russian attack on Kharkiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi then demanded the right to use Western weapons against Russian territory. More than 20 people have been killed by Russian bombardment in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv since Thursday.

"We see every concentration point of Russian troops. We know all the areas where Russian missiles and warplanes are launched," he said. It is a political decision to allow the destruction of these forces before they attack Ukraine, he said. "A decision that must be made."