Volker on long-range strikes: Biden reversed decision that should never have been taken

Kurt Volker, a Distinguished Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) and former U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, said this in a comment to Ukrinform.

Volker explained that Ukraine is the victim of outside aggression and, under Article 51 of the UN Charter, the country has an inherent right to self-defense.

"Under the laws of armed conflict, Ukraine is entitled to strike any militarily significant target – it just needs to avoid targeting of civilians. There is nothing in international law concerning the range of weapons use," Volker said.

He stressed that while Russia is attacking Ukraine from these very long ranges, the United States has been preventing Ukraine from hitting back at that range.

"By restricting the range of Ukraine's use of U.S. weapons, the United States was unjustifiably imposing unilateral restrictions on Ukraine's self-defense beyond any requirements of international law," the expert said.

According to him, the decision on the range of Ukrainian weapons use "was completely arbitrary and was done out of fear of 'provoking' Russia, rather than out of any moral or legal concerns."

Putin knew he was attacking Ukraine when he did it, and he should have been prepared for the military consequences of that decision, Volker added.

In his opinion, "reversing a bad U.S. policy is good news."

However, it is a mistake to make such a change public, as it gives Russia advance notice of potential Ukrainian strikes, the expert said.

"This unnecessary restriction on Ukraine's self-defense should simply have been removed – full stop," he said.

Earlier, The New York Times, citing U.S. officials, reported that U.S. President Joe Biden for the first time allowed the Ukrainian military to use long-range ATACMS missiles to strike inside Russia.

Photo: Kyiv Independent / X