The Polish foreign minister has urged his EU counterparts to remove restrictions placed by their countries on the use of long-range weapons donated to Ukraine.
Radosław Sikorski said that Ukraine should be able to use such weapons for “legal self-defense.”
His comments come in the wake of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s British cabinet address where he appealed to politicians to remove restrictions on how Ukraine can use weapons supplied by its Western allies to allow long-range strikes on Russia.
NATO members, which include all but four EU states, have adopted a number of approaches to how Ukraine can use the weapons they donate.
Some have said that the Ukrainian military can use the donated weapons to attack targets inside Russia. However, the United States, a key NATO member, has taken a “narrower” approach.
Washington has allowed weapons to be used only just inside Russia’s border against targets supporting Russian military operations in Ukraine.
Sikorski made the call during a monthly meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) in Brussels on Monday.
He said that with long-range arms Ukraine could prevent Russian attacks, such as the recent shelling of a children’s hospital in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, by being able to destroy fighter jets and attack the airports from which they take off.
Sikorski argued that defending children’s hospitals “is not escalation… but self-defense, which is legal under international law.”
During the conference, Sikorski pointed out that Hungary had announced it would continue to block the reimbursement of funds from the European Peace Facility for weapons transferred to Ukraine.
The purchases of weapons for Ukraine are made by member countries, after which they can apply for reimbursement from the EU budget. However, the disbursement of funds has been blocked by Hungary for months, as the allocation of further tranches of funds to the EPF must be unanimously approved by EU states.
“This is a big disappointment for me,” Sikorski said.
He went on to list the reasons for Budapest’s opposition and said that now Hungary’s “pretext” to oppose the reimbursement was “that Hungary is not allowed to import Russian oil shipped by a specific Russian company, Lukoil, which is subject to sanctions, even though it can be done through another Russian company.”
He told the FAC meeting that Poland was still waiting to be reimbursed 2 billion zlotys (€470 million) from the European Peace Facility.
His comments come in the wake of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s British cabinet address where he appealed to politicians to remove restrictions on how Ukraine can use weapons supplied by its Western allies to allow long-range strikes on Russia.
NATO members, which include all but four EU states, have adopted a number of approaches to how Ukraine can use the weapons they donate.
Some have said that the Ukrainian military can use the donated weapons to attack targets inside Russia. However, the United States, a key NATO member, has taken a “narrower” approach.
Washington has allowed weapons to be used only just inside Russia’s border against targets supporting Russian military operations in Ukraine.
Sikorski made the call during a monthly meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) in Brussels on Monday.
He said that with long-range arms Ukraine could prevent Russian attacks, such as the recent shelling of a children’s hospital in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, by being able to destroy fighter jets and attack the airports from which they take off.
Sikorski argued that defending children’s hospitals “is not escalation… but self-defense, which is legal under international law.”
During the conference, Sikorski pointed out that Hungary had announced it would continue to block the reimbursement of funds from the European Peace Facility for weapons transferred to Ukraine.
The purchases of weapons for Ukraine are made by member countries, after which they can apply for reimbursement from the EU budget. However, the disbursement of funds has been blocked by Hungary for months, as the allocation of further tranches of funds to the EPF must be unanimously approved by EU states.
“This is a big disappointment for me,” Sikorski said.
He went on to list the reasons for Budapest’s opposition and said that now Hungary’s “pretext” to oppose the reimbursement was “that Hungary is not allowed to import Russian oil shipped by a specific Russian company, Lukoil, which is subject to sanctions, even though it can be done through another Russian company.”
He told the FAC meeting that Poland was still waiting to be reimbursed 2 billion zlotys (€470 million) from the European Peace Facility.
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