Europe lifts restrictions to help Ukraine as US teeters cautiously | Russia-Ukraine war news

Europe began to loosen itself from some of its self-imposed restrictions on military aid to Ukraine over the past week, as the United States remained cautious and Russia warned against actions that could cause “a World War” – an oft-repeated threat use of nuclear weapons. .

On the ground, Ukraine halted the Russian advance in the region north of Kharkiv, regaining some territory northeast of Lyptsi, and maintained the defense of Chasiv Yar, a strategically important city on the eastern front.

Its Military Media Center said on Sunday it had killed or injured 8,650 Russian soldiers in a week, the equivalent of 17 battalions, and destroyed 81 tanks and 153 armored vehicles. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian losses in Kharkiv were eight times greater than Ukraine’s.

But he warned that new Russian offensive forces were building up in Belgorod, northwest of Kharkiv.

Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the number of victims and the figures announced by Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday he would allow Ukraine to use French weapons to attack inside Russia – a demand Ukraine has raised with new urgency since the May 10 raid in Kharkiv.

“We think we should allow them to neutralize the military sites from which missiles are fired and basically the military sites from which Ukraine is attacked,” Macron said during a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz , during a three-day trip. to Germany.

“Ukrainian soil is being attacked from bases in Russia. So how do we explain to the Ukrainians that we will have to protect these cities… if we tell them that it is not allowed to hit the point from which the missiles are fired?”

Macron clarified that civilian installations could not be targeted.

His statement came a day after Russia fired missiles at a shopping center in Kharkiv, setting it on fire, killing 16 people and hospitalizing 45. Many are still missing.

“This attack on Kharkiv is another manifestation of Russian madness. There’s just no other way to call it. Only crazy people like Putin are capable of killing and terrorizing people in such a vile way,” declared Zelenskyy.

Ukraine’s air defenses are often not sufficient to intercept storms of missiles and drones fired from Russia and Crimea, and Ukraine has said it needs to attack Russia’s missile launch sites and airfields.

From these airfields, Russia flies aircraft that drop around 3,000 glide bombs a month – huge munitions usually weighing 250 kg or 500 kg (550 lb or 1100 lb) – which military analysts say did much to give it the initiative. on the front lines.

Currently, Ukraine can only shoot down bombers that launch these glide bombs, and it did so twice this week, when it shot down Sukhoi-25s over Kharkiv on May 22 and Donetsk the following day. It also partially blinded Russian pilots by grounding their A-50 radar planes that facilitate recognition and target selection.

But this is not enough, Ukraine says, because Russian missiles, glide bombs and drones continue to arrive, and now there are new land invasions. It also needs to hit airfields, missile launch sites and offensive battalions on Russian soil, just a few kilometers from the border with Ukraine.

At a bombed-out printing shop in Kharkiv on Sunday, Zelenskyy said a new ground invasion was imminent: “Russia is preparing for offensive actions also 90 km away. [56 miles] northwest of here – they gather another group of troops near our border,” he told reporters.

Currently, Ukraine is only capable of attacking Russia with its Soviet-era S-200/S-300 air defense missiles or with domestically produced drones, which carry small payloads and are easily shot down by Russian air defenses.

Ukraine’s NATO allies have begun to recognize this, and on Monday the NATO Parliamentary Assembly voted in favor of expanding the use of weapons and accelerating their supply.

The adopted Declaration 489 called on allies “to support Ukraine in its international right to defend itself by lifting some restrictions on the use of weapons supplied by NATO Allies to attack legitimate targets in Russia”.

Most notably, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg went against the policy of the alliance’s largest member, the US, of urging allies to do so.

“The time has come for allies to consider whether they should lift some of the restrictions they have imposed on the use of weapons they have donated to Ukraine,” Stoltenberg told The Economist.

“Especially now, when there is a lot of fighting in Kharkiv, close to the border. [with Russia]Denying Ukraine the ability to use these weapons against legitimate military targets on Russian territory makes it very difficult for them to defend themselves.”

Macron is not the first NATO leader to lift restrictions.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron did so during a visit to Kiev on May 3.

Since May 2023, France and the United Kingdom have supplied Ukraine with the Scalp/Storm Shadow missile with a range of 250 km (155 miles), for a year its longest-range weapon, joined last month by the missile range of 300 km (186 miles). ATACMS being supplied by the USA.

Despite NATO’s statement, US Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said on Wednesday: “Our position has not changed in terms of how we believe the Ukrainians can succeed on the battlefield. But I leave it to other countries to talk about the weapons they supply themselves.”

But his position appeared to be the subject of debate.

The New York Times reported that Secretary of State Antony Blinken was at odds with other cabinet members over the ban on the use of US weapons in Russia.

During a visit to Kyiv on May 15, Blinken said, “We do not encourage or permit attacks outside of Ukraine, but ultimately Ukraine has to make decisions for itself about how it will conduct this war,” a statement that seemed suggest a change in policy.

Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said at a press conference in Belarus on Friday that the White House was not in any dilemma: “Washington is trying… to pretend that the decision has not yet been made. It’s a trick. We are certain that American and other Western-supplied weapons are being used to attack targets on Russian territory.”

Germany, the other major holdout, switched to Macron’s position on Monday when Chancellor Scholz told journalists that Ukraine could attack military installations in Russia.

“Ukraine has every possibility to do this under international law,” Scholz said. “It must be said clearly that if Ukraine is attacked, it will be able to defend itself.”

Scholz also did not change the supply of Taurus missiles with a range of 500 km (316 miles), which Germany produces and which Ukraine has requested.

Russian President Vladimir Putin wasted no time in warning that there would be “serious consequences” if Ukraine used European weapons inside Russia, and the traditionally outspoken Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, wrote in X that “ Americans hitting our targets means starting a world war.”

France, meanwhile, was already holding talks about lifting another NATO taboo and sending its troops to train Ukrainian units inside Ukraine – something Stoltenberg did not endorse.

Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskii announced on Telegram that French instructors would “visit” training facilities on Ukrainian soil soon.

“I welcome France’s initiative to send instructors to Ukraine to train Ukrainian military personnel,” he wrote on Monday. “I have already signed the documents that will soon allow the first French instructors to visit our training centers.”

Poland, another key ally of Ukraine, said it was considering lifting another taboo – shooting down Russian missiles coming from its own airspace. Ukraine called on its allies to do so after an international task force in the Red Sea helped shoot down 307 Iranian missiles and drones headed for Israel on April 13.

Ukraine also signed three new multi-year bilateral military agreements during the week, with Spain, Belgium and Portugal. Spain and Belgium each pledged a billion euros ($1.1 billion) in aid this year, and Belgium said it would send 30 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine by 2028. Ukraine has said it needs 120 to 130 F-16s to defend its airspace.

Not everyone in the alliance agreed with the acceleration and expansion of military aid to Ukraine.

Hungarian Viktor Orban told Radio Kossuth that he was not satisfied with the fact that NATO would not become a party to the conflict and that Brussels had “task forces working on ways for NATO to participate in this war”.

“Hungary is opposed to this. The government is working intensively to figure out how to avoid participating in the war and at the same time remain a member of NATO,” Orban said, according to Russian state news agency TASS. “There are not many situations in the history of NATO where member states have openly taken a distinct position as Hungary is doing now.”

Hungary maintains strong economic and energy ties with Russia and has banned military aid from passing through its territory on its way to Ukraine.