After Germany & France Say Ukraine Should Use Their Weapons To Strike Inside Russia, U.S. Reverses Course & Allows Use Of Its Missiles

When French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz convened a joint news conference in Meseberg, Germany, last week to address the complex issue of Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied weapons against military targets within Russia, they did not show the reserve that U.S. military leaders have expressed on the subject.

Earlier that day, Russia warned the West that NATO members in Europe were playing with fire by proposing to let Ukraine use Western-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia, which he said could trigger a global conflict.

“We support Ukraine, and we don’t want escalation; that hasn’t changed,” Macron stated at the conference. “We think we should allow them to neutralize military sites from which missiles are fired, military sites from which Ukraine is attacked, but we shouldn’t allow them to hit other targets in Russia and civilian or other military sites in Russia.”

Similarly, Scholz echoed Macron’s sentiments and emphasized that as long as Ukraine respects the conditions set forth by the countries that provide the weapons, including the United States, and upholds international law, it has “every possibility” to defend itself. 

Scholz firmly stated, “Ukraine has every possibility under international law for what it is doing. That has to be said explicitly. I find it strange when some people argue that it should not be allowed to defend itself and take measures that are suitable for this.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg advocated allowing Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with Western-supplied weapons. While some European members of the transatlantic alliance have expressed support for this approach, the United States has not yet endorsed it.

Now, over two years into the deadliest land war Europe has seen since World War II, as the West considers what to do about Russian military advances in Ukraine, Putin is increasingly evoking the risk of a global war while Western leaders play it down.

By the end of the week, it was reported the Pentagon reversed a previous decision and allowed Ukraine to use powerful U.S. weapons against targets in Russia for self-defense.

In recent months, Russian leaders have tried to recast their war of aggression, calling it “a terrible tragedy.”