Ukraine, Borrell’s “license” to attack Russia. Salvini: “Delusional words”

Does allowing Ukrainians to attack Russian territory with Western weapons and sending soldiers to Ukrainian soil help Kiev or escalate? The EU is divided over the next step to step up support and save Ukraine. Removing restrictions on the use of weapons given to Ukraine “is a legitimate action under international law when it is used proportionately, it is also clear that it is a decision that each Member State must take and bear its own responsibility.” whether we should do it or not”, noted the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, who is not against it, but stresses that “we need to balance the risk of escalation and the need for Ukrainians to defend themselves”. . At the beginning of the conflict all states were against this hypothesis and it was decided not to exceed this limit. Now, “some have changed their minds and today agree to abandon this limitation”, noted Borrell “The Ukrainians must be able to neutralize the military positions. from which Ukraine is attacked”, observes French President Emmanuel Macron, who adds an important detail: “But we must not allow them to hit other targets in Russia”. Not being able to attack these positions “would mean telling them ‘we are here.’ giving you weapons, but you cannot defend yourself’. The Baltic countries and Poland are pushing harder than anyone else to increase the level of support. Warsaw Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, the deployment of Polish troops to Ukraine “should not be ruled out” because “we must leave Putin in suspense as to our intentions”.

The other issue is the continuation of training of Ukrainian soldiers – which has so far been carried out mainly in Poland, involving 50 thousand soldiers in training – on Ukrainian soil. “There is no clear common European position on this matter”, reports Borrell, explaining that, if there is the advantage of not moving people and training them in a war scenario, there is also the risk of having soldiers present on Ukrainian territory. . The invitation to free weapons from territorial restrictions launched by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who spoke today to the EU Defense Ministers meeting in the Council, finds an opening in Borrell, but the ball remains in the States’ court. In Rome, however, minister Matteo Salvini did not take it well. After Stoltenberg and Macron, this time he targets the EU High Representative, calling him a “bombardier” and classifying his statements as “speeches”. “Theoretically it should also represent me and the Italian people but it doesn’t speak my name, it doesn’t speak the name of the Italian people”, he comments.

Fiery words from Vladimir Putin, who says he remembers the NATO secretary general when he “didn’t suffer from dementia”. “NATO leaders must be aware of who they are playing with,” the tsar said during his visit to Uzbekistan, commenting on the possibility of allowing Kiev to launch attacks on targets in Russia. Not only that: the sending of Western troops to Ukraine “is an escalation and another step towards a serious conflict in Europe and a global conflict”. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is not intimidated, who, after the Spanish stopover, went to Belgium today to sign a 10-year security agreement with Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and receive a commitment of 977 million euros in military aid for 2024 and 30 F-16s will be delivered to Ukraine by 2028, with the first arriving later this year.