Use French missiles to strike Russia, Emmanuel Macron tells Ukraine
Emmanuel Macron said Ukrainian forces are allowed to use cruise missiles supplied by France to strike inside Russia.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Ukrainian forces are allowed to use powerful cruise missiles supplied by France to strike inside Russia on the condition the weapons are only used to take out military sites that have fired on Ukraine.
The comments, made during a news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, came as Ukraine and its European allies have begun to press the Biden administration to ease restrictions on the use of Western weapons to target Russian territory.
The Biden administration has been loath to take any steps that could lead to an escalation in the Ukraine war – an approach that Kyiv and some of its allies have criticised as giving Moscow a crucial edge on the battlefield. Mr Macron and Mr Scholz were meeting in Germany as allies scramble to reinforce Ukraine and slow the advances of Russian forces.
Mr Macron was asked during the news conference whether France would allow Kyiv to strike Russian positions inside Russia with French Scalp missiles, which have a range of more than 480km.
“We must allow them to neutralise military sites from which missiles are being fired, military sites from which Ukraine is being attacked,” Mr Macron said, adding that the Scalps should not be used to hit other sites in Russian territory, such as civilian areas or military facilities not involved in striking Ukraine.
Mr Macron has morphed into one of the West’s leading hawks on the Ukraine war, refusing to rule out the possibility of sending French troops into the country and describing the conflict as existential for Europe.
Still, Mr Macron’s comments appeared to stop short of acceding to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s broader push for permission to use Western arms to attack Russian troop positions and air bases inside Russia.
“We can see every point where Russian troops are concentrated. We know all areas from which Russian missiles are launched and combat aircraft take off,” Mr Zelensky said in an address on Sunday. Targeting these areas with Western weapons, he said, “is entirely a political decision. The decision that must be made.”
Jens Stoltenberg, secretary-general of NATO, recently said the time had come for all allies to lift their restrictions. “Especially now, when a lot of the fighting is going on in Kharkiv, close to the border, to deny Ukraine the possibility of using these weapons against legitimate military targets on Russian territory makes it very hard for them to defend themselves,” he said.
Asked whether allowing Ukraine to strike Russian territory with Western weapons would constitute Western participation in the war, Mr Scholz appeared to endorse Mr Macron’s position.
“Ukraine has all options under international law to do what it’s doing,” Mr Scholz said. “It was attacked and it should be allowed to defend itself.”
Mr Scholz noted that France and Germany hadn’t provided Ukraine with similar weapons, alluding to the fact that Berlin had refused to give Kyiv Taurus missiles, a longer-range version of the Scalp missile with a more sophisticated warhead.
German officials have said one reason for not providing Ukraine with the weapon was concern that it would be used to target the Kerch bridge, which links the occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea to the Russian mainland and is a vital supply route for Russian troops in southern Ukraine.
However, Berlin has sent Ukraine long-range, high-precision artillery munition that could reach deep inside Russia, as well as Patriot air-defence systems that could be used to strike Russian bombers in Russian airspace from Ukraine.
Earlier on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West against authorising Ukraine to strike Russian territory, suggesting countries that do so might face retribution.
“They should keep in mind that theirs are small and densely populated countries, which is a factor to be reckoned with before they start talking about striking deep into the Russian territory,” he said on a visit to Uzbekistan.
The Wall Street Journal
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