Latvia advocates lifting restrictions on the use of Western weapons from Ukraine during strikes against Russia and calls on NATO allies to also give the Ukrainian military such permission.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevichs stated this in an interview with CNN.
Latvia supports Western strikes on Russia
According to Rinkevichs, the offensive of the Russian army in the north of the Kharkov region is a consequence of the fact that Russia was able to transfer its economy to a war footing and is engaged in mobilization. But this offensive was also made possible by the mistakes of NATO allies, who responded hesitantly to military action and were slow to support Ukraine.
Now watching
— What we see — it is a consequence of our failure to provide Ukraine with enough weapons and the imposition of restrictions on how Ukraine can use them — for attacks on Russian territory. Here we are not talking about civilian, but about legitimate military purposes, — he said.
Edgars Rinkevics fully agrees with the words of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that the time has come for NATO member countries to reconsider their restrictions on the use of weapons provided by Ukraine to Ukraine.
Use of Western weapons to attack the Russian Federation
Previously, a number of Ukraine's European allies, including Britain, Sweden and Poland, said that Ukraine could use their weapons without restrictions imposed by the United States.
Also, after the start of the Russian offensive north of Kharkov, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also entered into this debate and defended Ukraine's right to use Western weapons against targets in Russia.
It is noteworthy that after pressure from Congress on the White House and the US government, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to press reports, also plans to prepare an appropriate permit for Ukraine, however, not without a number of restrictions.
On the other side is German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who on May 26 said he was opposed to such attacks by German weapons.
