NATO Chief Backs Hitting Russia With Western Weapons Despite Moscow’s Warnings (Worthy News Radio)
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
MOSCOW/PRAGUE/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Russia has warned that U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied weapons against targets in Russia demonstrates Washington’s deep involvement in the conflict. However, the chief of the NATO military alliance has defended these policies.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday dismissed assertions by Russian President Vladimir Putin that allowing Kyiv to deploy Western weapons for strikes inside Russia might lead to an escalation.
Moscow made the warning after U.S. President Joe Biden decided Thursday to permit Kyiv to use U.S. weapons for counter-fire purposes inside Russian territory near the border with Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, where dozens were killed this month in Russian attacks.
Stoltenberg told reporters at NATO foreign ministers meeting in the Czech capital Prague that Ukraine has the right to respond to Russia. “Russia has escalated by invading another country. And Russia escalated just the last weeks by opening a new front where they are hitting Ukraine from inside Russia,” Stoltenberg stressed.
“And ofcourse to assume that Ukraine should not hit back is in no way reasonable because Ukraine must be able to defend their territory, also ofource by hitting the artillery, the missiles which are launched against Ukraine, ” he added.
Stoltenberg spoke at a gathering where ministers decided that NATO would coordinate more effectively in providing Ukraine with equipment and training.
He noted that “99 percent of the military aid for Ukraine” comes from NATO allies. He said member states have provided about 40 billion euros ($44 billion) in military aid to Ukraine annually since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
ZELENSKYY SEEKS WEAPONS
Stoltenberg argued that NATO must maintain at least that current level of support to Ukraine “for as long as necessary.
These steps were welcomed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose outnumbered forces are facing an uphill battle against Russian troops.
He admitted that Ukrainians are increasingly concerned about how the war will end.
“Some people don’t want to fight in the war; some are afraid. And I think that those are human beings. All of us are humans,” he said in a video-recorded interview with Britain’s The Guardian newspaper, seen by Worthy News.
“But you can’t say that everyone is running away. And before they didn’t run away. No, it is not like that. When almost everything was occupied, everyone went out in the streets; everyone did it. And I think this unity gave us such strength,” be said.
However he admitted: “Definitely, after two and a half years of war, this is a slightly different energy. But believe me, it still exists; it is on the frontline.”
FEARING WORLD WAR
Zelsnskyy hopes more NATO members will allow Ukraine to use their weapons to hit military targets in Russia.
However, NATO member state Hungary expressed concerns Friday that this could lead to a new world war involving the U.S. and Russia, which are both nuclear powers.
NATO’s plans to get more involved in the war in Ukraine “are like a firefighter trying to put out a fire with a flamethrower,” Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told Hungarian radio on Friday.
Orbán, who has close relations with Moscow,
has been at odds with Western nations over support for Ukraine since Moscow’s full-scale invasion began more than two years ago.
As ministers gathered in Prague, he seemed to agree with Putin’s escalation warnings saying NATO was “getting closer to war” every week.
The Prague gathering prepared for a NATO summit in Washington in July, in a year when the alliance celebrates its 75th anniversary.
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