France Backs Ukraine’s Right to Target Russian Military Bases

28 May, 2024 French President Emmanuel Macron with a map of the hostilities of the Russian-Ukrainian war. May 2024. Photo credits: kleinezeitung.at

France believes Ukraine has the right to strike military bases in Russia. French President Emmanuel Macron stated that the allies should allow Ukrainians to neutralize Russia's military bases. He said this on May 28, 2024, at a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during his trip to Germany.

"We should allow them to neutralize the military bases from which the missiles are launched," the French President said. He emphasized that attacks on Ukraine are carried out from the territory of Russia.

The German Chancellor, in his turn, stressed that Ukraine "has every opportunity under international law to do what it is doing," and that Western countries that provide Ukraine with weapons "have revealed all the rules for their use, which are based on international law." So far, Chancellor Scholz has repeatedly emphasized that Ukraine can only defend itself on its own territory with weapons supplied by Germany. Previously, high-ranking officials of the Czech Republic and the Netherlands have also voiced support for Ukraine's use of Western weapons to strike at Russian territory.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, in response to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's statement on the subject, said that he considered such usage "quite logical."

Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren also supported the lifting of restrictions on Ukraine. The same statements were made by Latvia, Sweden, Poland and Great Britain.

As previously reported, Belgium and Ukraine conclude an agreement that prohibits the use of Belgian military assistance outside Ukrainian territory.