Newly appointed Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze said in an interview with European Pravda that Ukraine has received Western weapons from some partners with permission to strike Russian territory.
While Ukraine currently receives weapons from Western partners with public caveats to avoid strikes outside Ukraine’s borders, Braze said “this approach may change and is already changing.”
“There are already countries that have provided Ukraine with weapons without such restrictions,” the Latvian FM said, confirming such countries exist when asked.
Braze said that the lifting of restrictions in these cases was not announced publicly. “Of course, not everything is announced publicly, and it’s even better not to say it out loud for a while. The main thing is the impact on the battlefield,” she said.
According to Braze, Ukraine agreed with the allice who provided weapons that if there are objects from which Russia attacks Ukraine, then Ukraine has the right to strike back if these objects are located on Russian territory. Braze said that such use of weapons is permitted under international law.
With the intensification of the Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries, the Western alliance, in particular, US Defense Secretary Austin criticized the Ukrainian strikes on Russia, claiming they have “a knock-on effect in terms of the global energy situation.”
Zelenskyy reacted to the criticism, saying the US reaction to the massive Ukrainian drone strikes against Russian oil refineries “was not positive on this.” But Washington couldn’t limit Ukraine’s deployment of its home-built weapons. “We used our drones. Nobody can say to us you can’t,” Zelensky said.
On 23 April the US Senate approved a $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden, concluding a half-year-long saga of delaying the aid by Congressional Republicans.
Washington Post reported later that the US military aid could arrive in Ukraine within a week after President Biden signs the legislation. Biden signed this legislation on 24 April.
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