Ukraine can strike inside Russia with British weapons, UK’s Cameron says

KYIV — Ukraine has the “right” to use British-supplied weapons to strike Russia inside its own territory, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on a trip to Kyiv.

In an interview with Reuters, Cameron said it was up to Ukraine to decide how U.K. weapons are used.

Asked if that included targets inside Russia, he said: “Ukraine has that right. Just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine, you can quite understand why Ukraine feels the need to make sure it’s defending itself.”

Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine’s Western partners have set one condition for Kyiv to keep military aid coming – don’t strike in Russia. But countries including Finland and Latvia have since said they support Ukraine’s right to use weapons they have provided to defend itself, including strikes in Russia.

Cameron, a former British prime minister who returned to frontline politics late last year, was speaking on his second trip to Kyiv since taking on the job.

It comes a week after the U.K. announced its largest-ever military aid package to Ukraine. In a further show of support, Cameron pledged £3 billion of annual military help to Ukraine for “as long as it takes.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Cameron for the support in his meeting with the U.K. diplomat.

But he stressed the importance of getting weapons from the new aid package into Ukraine as soon as possible. “First of all, armored vehicles, ammunition, and missiles of various types,” Zelenskyy said.