The issue of striking targets on Russian soil has become an important issue in recent weeks after Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said his forces were unable to target Russian troops as they waited on the border before launching a new offensive in the north-eastern Kharkiv region.
“We, and this is a fact, cannot risk the support of our partners – that is why we are not using our partners’ arms to attack Russian territory. That’s why we are asking: please give us the permission to do that,” Mr Zelensky said on a visit to Belgium on Tuesday.
Kyiv’s military has repeatedly used Western weapons such as the US-supplied Himars rocket launchers to hit groupings of Russian soldiers on occupied territory.
Storm Shadow cruise missiles donated by Britain and France have been used to strike ammunition and fuel dumps aimed at supporting Russia’s offensive actions.
But an American embargo on such strikes on Russian soil has made it easier for Russia to launch long-range attacks from inside its borders.
‘Our position has not changed’
Despite mounting pressure on Washington to permit strikes with US-provided weapons on military targets within Russia, there has been little sign of movement.
“Our position has not changed at this stage. We neither encourage nor permit the use of US-supplied weapons to strike Russian soil,” said White House national security spokesman John Kirby, after the Franco-German announcement.
The US opposition has prompted a renewed debate over how far Kyiv’s Western backers should go in allowing autonomous use of donated weapons.
Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary-general, has urged a reconsideration of the limits placed on certain weapons, without referring directly to the Americans.
The western alliance’s top official has argued that the restrictions “tie the hands of Ukrainians behind their backs”.
EU countries are also deeply divided on the subject, the bloc’s top foreign diplomat Josep Borrell has said.
The UK, the Baltic states, Finland and Poland have previously endorsed their weapons being used on targets inside Russia.
Their moves prompted accusations of “direct escalation” from the Kremlin, stoking fears of a widening conflict among some Nato members.
The US, Italy and Germany have been vocal in their fears that, as a nuclear power, Russia should not be provoked by lowered limits on Western weapon donations.