Germany and other Ukraine allies have been hesitant to enable Ukraine to strike Russia, but the new campaign may change strategy.
As Ukraine expands its attacks within Russia, there is little indication that the country’s often reluctant Western partners are putting pressure on Kyiv to back down.
According to the German foreign ministry, “Ukraine has the right to self defense enshrined in international law. This is not limited to its own territory.”
Senior Christian Democratic legislator Roderich Kiesewetter told POLITICO that using German-donated weaponry to target “staging areas” within Russia is perfectly legal.
“The question of whether Western weapons are involved doesn’t come up because, after they are delivered, they are Ukrainian weapons,” added Kiesewetter.
The chair of the Bundestag’s influential defense committee, Marcus Faber, a member of the FDP, tweeted that Ukraine’s attack towards Kursk is completely legitimate and makes military sense. “We can only wish the Ukrainian defenders every success.”
Meanwhile, Olaf Scholz, the chancellor of Germany, hasn’t yet interrupted his summer holiday to comment on the situation in Kursk.
Berlin and Washington shifted their views on striking Russian territory in May, in reaction to Russia’s barbaric attacks on Kharkiv. Though the approval from the US was quite carefully worded and restricted to regions close to Kharkiv.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at Press Briefing on August 8: «Obviously, we strongly support Ukraine’s effort to defend against Russia’s aggression. That continues to be the case.»
The Pentagon, in turn, also downplayed worries that the incursion may cause the fighting to escalate.
At the press conference on August 8, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said that the action “is consistent with our policy” about what Ukraine may and cannot do with weapons supplied by the United States, but she also said that “we don’t support long range attacks into Russia.”
Then Singh added: “We’re going to continue to support Ukraine with the capabilities and the systems that they need. We don’t feel like this is escalatory in any way. Ukraine is doing what it needs to do to be successful on the battlefield.”
Ukraine has not yet commented on the operation, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated on Thursday that “Russia brought war to our land, and it should feel what it has done.”
