Nato Ally Tells Ukraine to Cross Putin’s Red Line

Ukraine is being urged to cross one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s so-called red lines by a NATO ally as Kyiv struggles with a shortage of arms on the battlefield.

Putin has repeatedly warned NATO nations that they risk expanding the war if they give Kyiv weapons that are capable of reaching targets within Russia. Despite the threats, such weapons have since been given to Ukraine, without any sign of retaliation from Putin.

Finland, which joined NATO last year despite Putin opposing expansion of the strategic alliance and citing related concerns as a reason for invading Ukraine, approved a new $205 million military aid package for Ukraine earlier this month.

Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen said in remarks to the Finnish Broadcasting Company on Thursday that Ukraine could use weapons provided by Finland to strike targets inside Russia, according to The Kyiv Independent.

Hakkanen noted other Ukraine allies had provided “long-range missile systems” and were within their rights to “specify how they should be used.” He then urged Germany to send Kyiv its long-range Taurus missiles “if they want to help Ukraine win.”

Finnish parliament member Jukka Kopra reportedly went one step further, saying that Ukraine “should” use the Finland-supplied weapons to attack “military targets on the Russian side.”

“Otherwise, these military objects will strike on the Ukrainian side,” Kopra said. “This is an absolutely legal defensive struggle, which Ukraine is waging. The UN Charter allows attacking military targets across land borders”

Newsweek reached out for comment to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email on Thursday.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made similar remarks in comments to U.S. state-funded media outlet Radio Liberty last week, saying that Ukraine had the legal right to strike “legitimate military targets” in Russia with Western-supplied weapons.

“According to international law, Ukraine has the right to self-defense,” Stoltenberg said. “And it also includes strikes against legitimate military targets, Russian military targets outside of Ukraine. That’s international law, and of course, Ukraine has the right to do that to defend itself.”

Ukraine has recently suffered a series of military setbacks following a decrease in aid from Western allies. Recent losses have included control of the Dontesk city of Avdiivka after several months of fighting, while at least three additional settlements close to the city were lost on Monday and Tuesday alone.

While $60 billion in additional U.S. aid remains held up in Congress, some of Kyiv’s European NATO allies have recently offered smaller amounts and the European Union (EU) announced the approval of a new $54 billion aid package to Ukraine earlier this month.

However, the EU package is for aid distributed through 2027, while there have been other issues in supplying Ukraine with promised weapons and ammunition fast enough to make a difference for troops struggling on the battlefield.

Leon Hartwell, senior associate at London School of Economics think tank LSE IDEAS, previously told Newsweek that Russia taking control of Avdiivka was due in part to “a substantial disparity between Western promises of support for Ukraine and their actual delivery.”

“Ukrainian troops have been operating with an overwhelming disadvantage, being outgunned five-to-one on the frontline, with Avdiivka being a dire example,” Hartwell said. “In light of these circumstances, how did we even expect Ukrainians to hold Avdiivka for this long?”

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, head of U.K.’s armed forces, said earlier this week that Ukraine was “struggling in terms of its ammunition and its stockpiles and [it is] imperative for the rest of the world to respond to that,” while suggesting that Kyiv may be unable to launch a much-needed counteroffensive until next year.