German Foreign Minister does not rule out that Ukraine will be able to hit Russia's rear with German weapons

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is not opposed to Ukraine striking deep into Russian territory in self-defence in the future.

As reported by Tagesschau, Baerbock added that she would not want to discuss publicly how deeply Ukraine would be able to strike at Russian territory.

She stressed that Ukraine is not obliged to retaliate only when its own territory is already under attack.

"Ukraine's right to self-defence does not mean that a missile must first cross the border or hit a city like Kharkiv before Ukraine is allowed to defend itself. Even the best air defence systems cannot always prevent this," she said. 

Baerbock emphasised that preventive measures are needed to deter future attacks.

"It doesn't mean you can't destroy launch sites. The question is how far it goes," she added.

Baerbock warned against specifying specific distances, such as "10, 40 or 200 kilometres", as the Russian military could benefit from this.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in late September that a decision on lifting restrictions on Ukraine's use of Western long-range weapons against military targets in Russia could be made by early winter.