EU Ambassador to Ukraine agrees with need to allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russia

Katarína Mathernová, Ambassador of the European Union to Ukraine, has shared the opinion of EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell on granting Ukraine permission to strike at Russian territory.

Mathernová mentioned in an interview with Ukrinform the latest large-scale Russian missile attack on Ukrainian cities and stressed that "it's time for all of us to get together and help Ukraine defend itself", in particular by providing more air defence assets and the capacity to repel Russian strikes.

When asked whether she believed Ukraine should be allowed to strike military targets on Russian territory using Western-supplied weapons, Mathernová replied: "I can only echo the words of my boss, EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell, who has very openly called for the lifting of restrictions on the use of long-range missiles."

"Because Ukraine should be allowed to defend itself effectively and in accordance with international law. So I can only agree with my boss on this point," she said.

On 29 August, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Kyiv expected to obtain the consent of its partners to use long-range missiles against targets in Russia and to obtain such assets in time.

Allowing strikes on Russian territory will make it possible to put the Russians into strategic uncertainty, and the arrival of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine and the authorisation to shoot down air targets over Russia using these aircraft will significantly increase Ukraine’s ability to defend its skies.

Such authorisations open up new prospects for the Ukrainian defence forces, including, according to a number of military analysts, limiting Russian aircraft activity – in the event of a strike to a depth of at least 80 kilometres.

The media also reported that the UK supported the idea of striking targets in Russia with UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles, but did not publicly call for it, fearing a deterioration in relations with the US. 

Recently, it was unofficially reported that Ukraine planned to provide the White House with a list of targets in Russia for ATACMS missiles in an attempt to convince Biden.

For his part, Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umierov said that Kyiv continues to talk with foreign partners on the possibility of creating an air defence shield over Ukraine’s west.