PRAGUE (AP) — The head of NATO's military committee said Saturday that Ukraine has a strong legal and military right to strike deep into Russia to gain a combat advantage, echoing the thinking of many U.S. allies but the Biden administration's reluctance to allow Ukraine to do so with U.S.-made weapons.
“Any nation under attack has the right to defend itself, and that right does not stop at its own borders,” Navy Adm. Rob Bauer said at the closing of the committee's annual meeting, which was also attended by Army Gen. C.Q. Brown, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Bauer of the Netherlands added that countries have the sovereign right to place limits on weapons sent to Ukraine. But standing next to him at the news conference, Czech army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Karel Leka, made it clear that the Czech Republic had no such arms restrictions on Kiev.
“I believe that Ukrainians should decide for themselves how to spend it,” Leka said.
Their comments came as U.S. President Joe Biden is considering whether to allow Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied long-range weapons to strike deep into Russia, and signal a division over the issue.
Biden spoke with British Prime Minister Starmer on Friday after diplomats from both countries visited Kyiv, Ukraine, this week, bringing renewed pressure to ease arms restrictions. U.S. officials familiar with the discussions said they believed Starmer was seeking Biden's approval to allow Ukraine to use British Storm Shadow missiles in escalating attacks on Russia.
That could require Biden's approval because Storm Shadow parts are made in the U.S. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversations, said he believes Biden will comply but that no decision has been announced yet.
Providing additional aid and training to Ukraine was a key topic on the NATO summit's agenda, but it was unclear whether any discussion of U.S. restrictions was discussed Saturday.
Many European countries have been active in supporting Ukraine, fearful that it could become the next victim of an increasingly powerful Russia.
At the start of the conference, Czech President Petr Pavel made a broad appeal to the military leaders gathered at the venue, saying, “I want you to express your assessments and recommendations boldly and openly. The more rounded and soft your recommendations are, the less likely they will be understood at the political level.”
He said allies “must take the right steps and the right decisions to protect our country and our way of life.”
Military leaders regularly prepare plans and recommendations that are sent to NATO's civil defense chiefs for discussion and then passed on to allied leaders.
The United States allows Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied weapons in cross-border attacks to counter Russian aggression, but does not allow Kiev to fire long-range missiles such as ATACMS deep into Russia. The U.S. argues that Ukraine has drones capable of long-range attacks, but that their numbers are limited and that ATACMS should be used sparingly.
Ukraine has been urging the United States to lift the restrictions, especially as winter approaches and Kiev fears Russia will take advantage of the cold weather.
“If we weaken the enemy that's attacking us, we're not just fighting the arrows that are coming at us, we're fighting the archers that are coming from Russia mainland into Ukraine,” Bauer said. “Militarily, there's good reason to do that – weaken the enemy, weaken their supply lines, their fuel, their ammunition coming to the front line. We want to stop that, if we can.”
Meanwhile, Brown told reporters at the meeting that U.S. policy on long-range weapons would remain in place.
But, he added, “Similarly, regardless of that policy, what we want is for Ukraine to continue to be successful with the capabilities that the United States and other allies have provided, and with the weapons that Kyiv has been able to produce on its own.”
“They have proven themselves quite effective in developing unmanned aerial vehicles, drones,” Brown told reporters accompanying him to the European conference.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has made a similar point, arguing that no single weapons system can determine whether a war is won or lost.
“There are a lot of different factors that come into the overall equation as to whether you want to offer one feature or another,” Austin said Friday. “There's no silver bullet when it comes to these sorts of things.”
He also noted that Ukraine already has the ability to attack inside Russia with its own developed systems, including drones.
