“There are no end-use conditions for sending weapons from Canada to Ukraine,” declared Mélanie Joly, during a press conference with her Swedish counterpart Tobias Billström, in Stockholm.

The Canadian Foreign Minister also said she intends to defend the unrestricted use of weapons received by Ukraine at the informal meeting of the heads of diplomacy of the Atlantic Alliance to be held on Thursday and Friday in Prague, Czech Republic.

“We believe we need to be aggressive on this issue,” Joly said.

“Russia has no red lines and that is why we have to make sure that when it comes to the defense of Ukraine, we help them and we are on their side,” said the Canadian minister.

For their part, the United States does not advise Kiev to carry out attacks inside Russia with North American weapons, a position that the head of North American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, reinforced today today.

“We neither encouraged nor facilitated attacks outside Ukraine. But (…) Ukraine must make its own decisions on the best and most effective way to defend itself,” Blinken said at a press conference at the end of his visit to Moldova.

The US Secretary of State added: “We will do everything in our power to ensure that Ukraine has the equipment necessary to do this. »

Blinken said that although the Russian military had taken advantage of the US Congress’ delay in approving military aid to kyiv, it was now reaching the front lines.

These weapons already have an “effect” of stabilizing the combat front in the Kharkiv region (north-east), scene of a successful Russian offensive for several weeks.

Blinken said the Kremlin (Russian presidency) was not in a position to take Ukraine’s second city and cause a “mass exodus” of its population.

Russian President Vladimir Putin this week threatened Europe with “serious consequences” if NATO countries allow Ukraine to use Western weapons against targets on Russian territory.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said earlier this month that, just as Russia attacks Ukraine on its own territory, it is understandable that kyiv feels the need to defend itself, including through targeted attacks against the Russian territory.

French President Emmanuel Macron also supported the use of Western weapons by Ukraine against Russian territory to neutralize the points from which Russia launches its missiles, as long as the targets are not civilians. .

In the same spirit, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this week that the time had come to lift this restriction and considered that attacking military targets on Russian soil, from which Ukraine is bombed, is a form of self-defense.

Portugal, according to the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, is “more reluctant” and defends “a certain caution” regarding this possibility to “avoid an escalation” of the conflict.

The Minister of National Defense, Nuno Melo, estimated today that “any normal person” would understand the use of weapons by Ukraine, in “defensive actions”, against military targets on Russian territory, a personal position which, according to him, did not compromise the government. Portuguese.

On Monday, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, an independent institution of the Atlantic Alliance, approved a statement of support for Ukraine’s ability to attack military targets in Russia also with weapons supplied by allied countries .

JH (AFE) // SCA

By Impala News / Lusa

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