Hungary and Slovakia opposed granting Kyiv the freedom to use weapons provided by the West. France, Sweden, Latvia, the Netherlands and Poland supported the proposal to allow strikes on targets in Russia, Politico writes, UNN reports .
Details
The newspaper quotes its source as saying that at a meeting of EU ministers on August 29, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told diplomats that "all signs point to" Russia continuing its recent missile attacks on Ukraine.
The head of Ukraine's diplomacy, according to an official familiar with the discussions, urged EU ministers to allow Ukraine to strike targets in Russia, saying at the same time that the proposal should not be seen as an escalation.
According to Politico, Kuleba's call and the proposal made earlier by the head of the bloc's diplomacy to give Kyiv the freedom to use weapons provided by the West were supported by France, Sweden, Latvia, the Netherlands and Poland, some of which noted that international law does not prohibit a country from entering the territory of an aggressor to defend itself.
In the "against" camp are Hungary and Slovakia, led by the Moscow-friendly government of Robert Fico.
"We don't want more weapons in Ukraine, we don't want more deaths, we don't want an escalation of the war, we don't want an expansion of the crisis in the Middle East. Today we continue to stand for common sense and peace," Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto wrote on Facebook.
Addendum
Following the EU Foreign Affairs Council , the head of the bloc's diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that the EU countries mainly adhere to the idea that the issue of lifting restrictions on Ukraine's use of weapons on Russian territory remains a national decision of the EU member states.