Ukraine has the right to strike Russia inside its territory. This is what the Foreign Secretary of Great Britain, David Cameron, said. In an interview with Reuters, Cameron said it was up to Ukraine to decide how the UK's weapons would be used.
"As far as what the Ukrainians do, it's their decision how to use these weapons. They are defending their country, they were illegally occupied by Putin and they must take those steps. "Russia has launched an attack on Ukraine and Ukraine has absolutely the right to attack Russia," said David Cameron.
Asked if British weapons would include targets inside Russia, he said Ukraine has that right, but it will be up to Kiev itself how to use them.
The Kremlin sees British Foreign Secretary David Cameron's statements about Kiev's right to use British weapons to strike Russia as "a direct escalation" that "could potentially pose a risk to European security". This is what the spokesman Dmitri Peskov said, the Russian news agency Tass quotes.
While the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, added: "This is the first time that a Western politician has so frankly admitted what has long been a well-known secret for most countries of the world: that the West is making a secret war against Russia by the hands of Ukrainians. How irresponsible and heartless you have to be not to understand what such statements lead to, especially in relation to countries with nuclear weapons."
Cameron's comments put Britain in a tougher position on Russia than the United States, which stipulates that any weapons it gives Ukraine must be used only within Ukraine's internationally recognized borders and not against targets inside Russia itself.