Removing restrictions on Western arms is “a decision for each individual member state to take. It’s their responsibility. No one can force a member state to lift these limitations,” he said.
On Tuesday, Macron said that Ukraine should only be allowed to hit Russian military bases being used for attacks. “We have to allow [Ukrainians] to neutralize the military sites from which the missiles are fired, but not other civilian or military targets. We’re not being escalatory by doing this,” he said, speaking alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
It’s not just a problem for the European Union. U.S. President Joe Biden is under pressure from Congress to respond to Kyiv’s pleas and explicitly permit Ukraine to hit targets in Russia with donated weapons.
Ukraine points out that not being able to do so allows Russia to calmly gather its forces for attacks now happening north of its second city of Kharkiv, and that being restricted from shooting down airplanes flying over Russian territory makes it easier for them to execute bombing raids like the one that blew up a Kharkiv megastore killing over a dozen people.
Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: “We, and this is a fact, cannot risk the support of our partners — that is why we are not using our partners’ arms to attack Russian territory. That’s why we are asking: Please give us the permission to do that.”
Some European countries like the U.K., the Baltics, Finland, Poland and others have no problem with Ukraine hitting targets in Russia.