German Defense Minister: International law allows Ukraine to use Western weapons on Russian territory

International law allows Ukraine to use Western weapons on the territory of the Russian Federation in self-defense

Photo: dw.com

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said this in an interview with DW on June 5.

Answering a question about fears of the use of German weapons in Russia, he noted that international law allows this to be done in self-defense.

According to him, Berlin, like Washington, has always emphasized that it would not want its weapons to be used to cross the Russian border. At the same time, he said that the Allies rely on the Ukrainian side.

“I have full confidence in our Ukrainian partners. Ukraine is a reliable partner, I have no evidence to the contrary,” he said.

According to Pistorius, stopping arms supplies to Ukraine would essentially mean “let’s finish with Ukraine tomorrow.” “So this is not a solution. Ukraine is a sovereign country. And Ukraine has to decide for itself when the time comes for negotiations or for something else. It does not depend on us,” the German Defense Minister emphasized.

This statement is in stark contrast to another. On June 5, Belgium said that Ukraine could use the supplied weapons only to defend its territories. The country will check whether these weapons have been used in Russia.

This was stated by Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Kroo, Reuters reports.

“Our Ministry of Defense and its intelligence agencies have launched an investigation and are asking for information to determine what exactly happened. European weapons are supplied to Ukraine under the condition that they will be used on Ukrainian territory to protect this territory. And we have strict control to make sure that this is the case,” the politician said.

On June 3, the media reported that paramilitary groups in the Belgorod region (Russia) were using tactical vehicles provided to Ukraine by the United States and Poland and had rifles made in Belgium and the Czech Republic.

Thus, the statement of the German Defense Minister shows a significant change in Western policy. A year and a half into the biggest war in Europe since World War II, Western powers should reconsider their attitude toward the use of Western weapons in Ukraine.

Russia is using the full range of its own weapons, as well as Iranian drones. Why shouldn’t Ukraine, in defense of its right to exist, be allowed to use Western weapons against Russia if it can speed up the end of the war?