Portuguese minister ‘understands’ Ukraine using weapons against Russian military targets

Portugal understands the use of weapons by Ukraine for defensive purposes against military targets on Russian territory, Defence Minister Nuno Melo said on Wednesday, adding that his view is personal and in no way commits the government of which he is a member.

“I’ll tell you what I think, I mean, all defensive actions involve the use of weapons,” said Melo, on the sidelines of the Schuman Defence and Security Forum in Brussels.

“Imagine you have artillery pieces placed on Russian territory that are being used to batter Ukrainian lines. Are the Ukrainians inhibited from trying to destroy those artillery pieces? Any normal person would understand that that wouldn’t make much sense,” he added.

Asked by journalists to clarify Portugal’s position on the matter, Melo insisted that if there are “artillery pieces on Russian border territory, for example, that are being used to murder Ukrainians,” then Ukraine should be able to use the weapons at its disposal to “destroy those artillery pieces” being used against them.

“It seems clear to me that they could be [allowed], from my perspective, but I don’t want to bind the government with that,” he added.

The minister had been asked about the restrictions imposed on Ukraine by various Western countries that supply it with weapons, namely that it must not use them to attack positions on Russian territory.

For example, Ukraine’s Kharkiv region is just over 50 kilometres from Russia’s Belgorod district, from where Russian troops have been firing missiles and artillery.

However, several countries have argued that allowing Ukraine to use Western weapons to attack positions on Russian territory could be interpreted as direct Western intervention in the conflict.

(André Ferrão, edited by Cristina Cardoso | Lusa.pt)

Read more with Euractiv