Ukraine to ask for greater freedom to target Russia
Published: 05:06 PM,Jun 03,2024 | EDITED : 09:06 PM,Jun 03,2024
Mourners attend the funeral ceremony of Iryna "Cheka" Tsybukh, who was killed in action in the Kharkiv region, in Kyiv. — AFP
KYIV: 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.
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.
Meanwhile, Three people including a 12-year-old boy were killed in Russian attacks on eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces have claimed steady advances in recent weeks, local authorities said on Monday.
The head of the Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claimed to have annexed in late 2022, said two people were killed and another wounded by Russian attacks on the village of Mykhaylivka.
'A 12-year-old boy is among the dead,' the official, Vadim Filashkin, announced on social media, describing two aerial attacks 30 minutes apart that left several homes damaged.
Separately, one person was killed and two wounded in a Russian rocket attack in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, where Moscow's forces have recently captured several villages, the governor said.
Kharkiv borders Russia and has been under persistent shelling since the Kremlin ordered its attack of Ukraine in 2022.— AFP
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.
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.
Meanwhile, Three people including a 12-year-old boy were killed in Russian attacks on eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces have claimed steady advances in recent weeks, local authorities said on Monday.
The head of the Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claimed to have annexed in late 2022, said two people were killed and another wounded by Russian attacks on the village of Mykhaylivka.
'A 12-year-old boy is among the dead,' the official, Vadim Filashkin, announced on social media, describing two aerial attacks 30 minutes apart that left several homes damaged.
Separately, one person was killed and two wounded in a Russian rocket attack in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, where Moscow's forces have recently captured several villages, the governor said.
Kharkiv borders Russia and has been under persistent shelling since the Kremlin ordered its attack of Ukraine in 2022.— AFP