NATO Is In For 'The Long Haul' In Backing Ukraine, Says Stoltenberg

PRAGUE -- NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on May 31 that the military alliance must enhance its role in supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia's unprovoked invasion and make clear to Moscow that Western backing for Kyiv will continue for as long as necessary.

"We need to make sure that Moscow understands that we are prepared for the long haul in our support for Ukraine," Stoltenberg told journalists ahead of the start of a second day of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Prague.

The NATO gathering in the Czech capital, which is being attended by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, will discuss an aid package for Ukraine that would be presented at NATO's summit in Washington in July.

During the ministers' meeting, talks are scheduled on a plan presented by Stoltenberg in April on a framework that would transfer responsibility for military and civilian aid for Ukraine from an informal, U.S.-led group to the formal structures of the alliance.

NATO is currently not officially offering lethal military supplies to Kyiv.

Individual NATO member states have been channeling supplies through the Ukraine Contact Group (UCG), an initiative chaired by the United States known informally as the Ramstein Group.

"We will address how to sustain and step up our support for Ukraine, and I have proposed that NATO should play a bigger role in the coordination of the supply of the security assistance and training for Ukraine," Stoltenberg said.

"I also proposed a multiyear financial pledge to ensure more accountability and predictability in the support we provide for Ukraine."

The ministers are also likely to debate allowing Kyiv to use Western-provided weapons to strike targets inside Russia as Germany on May 31 followed in the footsteps of the United States and conditionally agreed with such a move.

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Kyiv had the "right under international law to defend itself" against attacks coming from Russia, close to the border with Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, meanwhile, clarified that the approval "only refers to combating [Russian] attacks" on the Kharkiv region, which has been targeted repeatedly in recent weeks.

Pistorius told RFE/RL during a visit to Moldova's capital, Chisinau, that "however, with regard to weapons that can operate over a long distance of hundreds of kilometers, there is still a reluctance on our part."

Berlin's change of position came after several U.S. officials familiar with the matter told the media on May 30 that President Joe Biden had given Ukraine the go-ahead to use U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia for the limited purpose of defending the eastern city of Kharkiv.

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The reported move, which came amid pleas from Ukraine to allow its forces to defend the country against attacks originating from Russian territory, was hailed by Serhiy Nykyforov, the press secretary of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who said it will "significantly boost" Ukraine's fightback.

Biden's reported change of heart came as pressure had been growing on the United States to allow the strikes.

Stoltenberg on May 31 reiterated that allies should consider lifting restrictions on the use of NATO weapons by Ukraine to hit targets on Russian territory, as it is part of Kyiv's right to self-defense.

"This is even more urgent as we see that Russia has opened a new front," Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg: Ukraine's Right To Self-Defense Includes Strikes On Russian Territory

"They have attacked from the north into the Kharkiv region and the front line and border line are more or less the same. They are hitting Ukraine with missiles, artillery based inside Russia, and of course Ukraine must be able to hit back and to defend themselves. This is part of the right to self-defense," he said.

In recent months, Russia has launched withering air and ground assaults against Ukraine, which has struggled with ammunition shortages. Kyiv has pleaded for an acceleration of deliveries of ammunition and also has asked to be allowed to use longer-range weapons -- which came with restrictions on their usage into Russian territory -- to their full extent.

"Allies are delivering many different types of military support to Ukraine and some of them have imposed some restrictions on the use of these weapons.... These are national decisions," Stoltenberg said in a speech delivered in Prague on May 30.

Both Stoltenberg and Blinken are due to hold news conferences after the end of the meeting later on May 31.