Ex-NATO commander calls for further lifting restrictions on Ukrainian strikes against Russia
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Ukraine should be allowed to use Western weapons to strike as deep inside Russia as it is necessary, including targeting power plants, Wesley Clark, NATO's former supreme commander in Europe, said on June 14.
Speaking online during the Black Sea Security Forum in comments reported by Ukrinform, Clark said it was crucial Ukraine was allowed to do what was needed to force Putin to abandon the continuation of aggression.
In May the U.S. allowed Ukraine to use HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, GMLRS rockets, and artillery against Russian territory near Kharkiv and Sumy oblasts.
However, Washington still prohibits Ukraine from using ATACMS and other long-range U.S.-supplied weapons for strikes deeper inside Russia.
President Volodymyr Zelensky on June 2 said the U.S. should also lift the ban on long-range strikes in order to protect lives, arguing that airfields deep inside Russia are used to launch strikes on Ukraine.
Speaking a few days later, U.S. President Joe Biden told ABC News that Washington was not authorizing Kyiv to carry out long-range strikes with U.S.-supplied weapons on locations far from the border with Ukraine, such as Moscow.
