Blinken Says US Has Not Encouraged Kiev to Strike Outside of Ukraine
20240529
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States has not encouraged Kiev to strike outside of Ukraine amid its ongoing conflict with Russia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday, adding that Ukraine has to make its own decisions.
"We have not encouraged or enabled strikes outside of Ukraine, but Ukraine, as I have said before, has to make its own decisions about the best way to effectively defend itself," Blinken told reporters in Moldova.
Earlier in May, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that Ukraine's right to self-defense includes the right to strike legitimate military targets outside the country. NATO countries must lift the restrictions on the use of western weapons by Ukraine to carry out strikes against facilities in Russia, he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov responded by saying that the Stoltenberg had exceeded his authority, and that his behavior had been berated by NATO members themselves.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, for his part, said that the US-led military bloc was toying with military rhetoric, raising the degree of escalation and plunging into what he called a warlike "ecstasy".
© Sputnik
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