UK will not assist Ukraine in striking targets in Russia - Defense Secretary
British Defense Secretary John Healey (Getty Images)
The UK will not help Ukraine to strike targets in Russia. However, the UK may allow Ukraine to use the provided weapons for such attacks, according to British Defense Secretary John Healey, The Guardian reports.
He did not rule out approving the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to use British-made missiles to strike Russian territory. But Healy added that Britain would not be involved in such attacks.
“We’re providing weapons to Ukraine for their defense of their sovereign country. And that does not preclude them hitting targets in Russia, but that must be done by the Ukrainians. It must be done within the parameters and the bounds of international humanitarian law,” the Defense Secretary said.
Healey made his statement a few hours before Zelenskyy was to address the British Cabinet meeting. The Ukrainian president became the first foreign guest to visit Downing Street since the election of Keir Starmer as the new prime minister.
Background
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy was on a visit to the UK. At the European Political Community summit, he called on the allies to lift restrictions on Ukraine's use of Western weapons to strike Russia. The president emphasized that the airfields from which Russia attacks Ukraine must be destroyed.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected Zelenskyy's request and also refused the call to destroy Russian missiles and drones over Ukraine.
