Ukraine says will ask for greater freedom to target Russia

Ukraine said on Monday it would urge allies to give its troops more freedom to strike military targets inside Russia after the United States partially lifted restrictions on the use of some Western-supplied weapons.

Washington last week gave Ukraine limited permission to use Western-supplied weapons to strike some military targets on Russian territory as part of Kyiv’s efforts to fend off attacks on its eastern Kharkiv region.

“It is not 100-percent, you know, clearance. It comes with some rules that need to be followed,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said at a press conference with his Estonian counterpart.

“We will continue to work with our allies on expanding the scope of its application,” he added.

The issue has been deeply divisive among Ukraine’s supporters, with some reluctant to permit Ukraine to strike over the border, fearing this could drag them closer to direct conflict with Moscow.

Kuleba also said Russia was using a three-pronged approach to dissuade countries from participating in a Ukraine peace summit to be held in Switzerland later this month.

He said Russia was aiming to discredit the summit publicly, convince countries not to participate and urge those intent on going to send low-level representatives.

“These attempts to disrupt the summit are systematic and are unprecedentedly large in scale, which once again confirms that we are doing everything right,” Kuleba said.

He added that the Russian efforts were focused on countries in Asia, Africa and South America.

The Kremlin has repeatedly said any talks around securing peace in Ukraine should involve Russia, which has not been invited to the summit.

It has also issued veiled threats to countries that allow Ukrainian forces to strike Russia using weapons supplied by Kyiv’s allies.