NATO Gives Ukraine the Go-Ahead to Cross Putin's Red Line

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NATO Gives Ukraine the Go-Ahead to Cross Putin's Red Line



NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks at a press conference at the 60th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, southern Germany, on February 16, 2024. Stoltenberg said this week that Ukraine has the right to defend itself against Russia even if it means attacking inside Russian territory. © THOMAS KIENZLE/AFP via Getty Images

Newsweek | February 22, 2024

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Ukraine has a right to use its Western-supplied weapons to defend itself against Russia, even if that includes striking targets within Russia's borders.

"This is Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine, which is a blatant violation of international law," Stoltenberg told Radio Liberty during an interview on Tuesday.

"And according to international law, Ukraine has the right to self-defense. And it also includes strikes against legitimate military targets, Russian military targets outside of Ukraine. That's international law, and of course, Ukraine has the right to do that to defend itself."

A NATO official confirmed with Financial Times on Thursday that Stoltenberg meant that Kyiv's right to self-defense included striking Russian military targets outside of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned against Ukraine using its Western-supplied equipment to launch attacks on Russian territory, saying that doing so could risk escalating the conflict. The warnings had originally made allies like the United States hold off on supplying Kyiv with long-range weapons capable of reaching Russia, but NATO allies have since given Ukraine such arms.

Putin said last month that Russian investigators found that a U.S.-made Patriot air defense system was used to shoot down an Ilyushin II-76 military transport plane while it was in Russian territory. Washington has provided Kyiv with several of the surface-to-air systems and additional artillery for the weapons.

Moscow officials claimed that everyone on board the II-76, which crashed inside the Belgorod region on January 24, was killed, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war. Kyiv has not accepted responsibility for the crash, and Newsweek was not able to verify Russia's claims.

Stoltenberg noted during his interview with Radio Liberty that it was up to each NATO ally to decide "for itself whether it has any reservations about what it supplies" to Ukraine in light of Putin's warnings, and said that "different allies have slightly different policies on this."

Newsweek reached out to Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry for comment on Thursday.

The NATO secretary general also spoke about the effort to deliver F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, saying that it was "impossible to say exactly" when the aircraft would be ready for battle.

"We all want the F-16s to be there as soon as possible," Stoltenberg told Radio Liberty. "At the same time, of course, the effect of the F-16 will be stronger and better with more trained pilots. And not only pilots, but also maintenance, personnel and all the support systems that must be in place."

F-16 jets have been provided to Ukraine by a variety of NATO members, and training programs on the modern aircraft are taking place in the U.S., United Kingdom, Denmark and Romania.