European Union defence ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday were unable to reach a consensus on whether Ukraine should be allowed to use the weapons they supply to strike targets on Russian territory, DPA reports.
EU countries had already agreed to collectively provide military aid to Ukraine. But while some member states are supplying arms to Kiev with minimal restrictions, others do so on the condition that they'll be used within Ukrainian territory.
But the Ukrainian government says its forces need to be able to hit targets inside Russia, because Russia is launching attacks from over the border.
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said in a press conference after the meeting that the use of self-defensive strikes against military targets in Russian territory "is a legitimate action under international law when it is being used in a proportional manner."
"But it's also clear that it is a decision for each individual member state," he added.
"Nobody can prevent a member state to provide arms to Ukraine and let the Ukrainians use these arms to target military objectives inside the Russian territory," Borrell said. Similarly, "We cannot oblige them to do it."
Elsewhere, Macron spoke out in favour of allowing Ukraine to use Western weapons to attack Russian positions on Russian territory.
"We think that we should allow them to neutralise the military sites from which the missiles are fired and basically the military sites from which Ukraine is attacked," Macron said after talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz near Berlin.
"We should not allow other targets in Russia to be hit, civilian capacities of course, or other military targets," he added.
Scholz said Ukraine had every option under international law for what it was doing. "We have to say this explicitly: it is under attack and can defend itself."
Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened Europe with "serious consequences" if Ukraine is allowed to fire long-range precision weapons supplied by the West at Russian territory.
"These NATO representatives, especially in Europe and especially in the small countries, should realise what they are playing with," Putin said in the Uzbek capital Tashkent on Tuesday at the end of a state visit.
Putin, who started the war on Ukraine more than two years ago, accused the West of continuing escalation and said NATO specialists, not Ukrainians, were controlling the modern weapons systems.
According to Putin, such authorization by Western states would amount to a direct confrontation between Russia and the West, and he made mention of Russia's strategic nuclear weapons.
EU ministers also remain divided over whether military instructors from the EU should be allowed to provide training on Ukrainian territory, or whether Ukrainian conscripts should be brought to the EU for training.
Some fear that putting "boots on the ground" in Ukraine would escalate their involvement in the war and increase the risk of direct conflict between Russia and the West.
"Some member states believe that the advantage of training people on the scenario of the war, avoiding people going back and forth has advantages," Borrell said. "Others believe that at the end, it's sending trainers, and the trainers are military."
However, the defence ministers were able to agree broad priorities for Europe's defence at the meeting on Tuesday.
