will France authorize Ukraine to use its missiles in Russia? “An option” taken into consideration

“International law is very clear”

During a Franco-German Council of Ministers, organized at Meseberg Castle, the French president estimated that the Ukrainians should be able to strike Russia with Western missiles. “We must allow them to neutralize the military sites from which the missiles are fired […]the military sites from which Ukraine is attacked,” he said during a press conference. “But we must not allow other targets in Russia and obviously civilian capabilities to be hit,” he immediately added.

A diplomatic source in Paris returned to the position expressed by Emmanuel Macron last May during his state visit to Germany. “Ukraine must be able to neutralize Russian military targets directly involved in operations targeting its territory,” this source explained to AFP. “International law is very clear, Ukraine has the right to defend itself. This right is not limited to Ukrainian territory,” she added.

Missiles already used?

France supplied long-range Scalp-type surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine but has never said how many were delivered and whether they were used by Ukrainian forces. Asked in Brussels last month about possible Scalp missile strikes on Russian soil, French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu refused to comment.

Washington has authorized Ukraine to strike Russia with long-range missiles supplied by the United States, according to a US official, a major strategic change just weeks before Donald Trump comes to power. These missiles with a maximum range of several hundred kilometers would allow Ukraine to reach logistical sites of the Russian army and airfields from which its bombers take off.