Kalniete: Western countries must give Ukrainians the right to use supplied weapons to destroy targets in Russia

While the Western allies hesitate to give Ukraine permission to use the weapons they supply to attack Russian targets on Russian territory, the Ukrainians are forced to fight the aggressor with their hands tied behind their backs, MEP Sandra Kalniete said today in a European Parliament debate on EU military and financial support to Ukraine.

Sandra Kalniete, MEP, Group of the European People's Party: "Every day, fighter jets and drones take to the air from distant Russian training grounds. The Kremlin sends them to Ukraine to destroy energy infrastructure and kill people. We know that Ukrainians are facing a another winter without heat and light, but we are not doing enough to prevent drone and missile strikes," said the MEP.

Sandra Kalniete stressed that hesitation by the Western allies is not a winning strategy. "It makes me mad that the leaders of the allied countries justify their ban on the fear of escalation. Putin should really be happy that his threatening bluffs are once again finding a listening ear in Washington and elsewhere. Do we really need to explain again and again that, by hesitating to authorise the destruction of military sites in Russia, we are playing Putin's game. Meanwhile, the Russian military industry works 24 hours a day and employs millions."

In her address to the European Parliament, the MEP urged again the leaders of the Western countries to realise that the strategy for victory is to act with determination and courage, as the heroic Ukrainian people are doing.

When the newly elected European Parliament took office in July, the resolution for the first plenary session of the new parliamentary term was for clear and unwavering support for Ukraine until its complete victory in the war against the Russian occupation forces. In Sandra Kalniete's view, the task of this European Parliament's mandate is to promote Ukraine's accession to the European Union by 2030 by all means available.