On the bandwagon: EU’s Borrell joins NATO chief to back Ukraine right to strike Russia

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has backed Ukraine’s use of Western arms to strike targets in Russian, a day after a similar suggestion by the NATO secretary general.

"According with the law of war, it is perfectly possible and there is no contradiction,” Borrell said at the start of a meeting with European Union defense ministers on Tuesday.

"I could retaliate or I could fight against the one who fights against me from his territory," he added.

He asked countries to “balance” the risk of escalation against what he called Ukraine's need to defend itself.

This acme a day after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said “the time has come” for allies to consider lifting restrictions on Ukraine's use of Western weapons in attacks on the Russian territory.

Stoltenberg claimed on Tuesday that his suggestion would not make NATO and its members part of the conflict.

The Kremlin on Monday stressed that NATO was already in direct confrontation with Russia, and that the US-led military alliance was escalating the conflict in Ukraine with military rhetoric.

The issue of providing Kiev with longer-range, more powerful arms that could strike targets deep inside Russia is controversial as some states fear this could escalate tensions and risks dragging Europe into a wider war.

In February 2022, Russia launched what it called a special military operation in Ukraine partly to prevent NATO’s eastward expansion after warning that the military alliance was following an “aggressive line” against Moscow.

Russia has said that Western countries have been fueling the flames of the war with their unchecked delivery of weapons to Ukraine, warning that such a flow of weapons to Kiev will only prolong the conflict.

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