A resounding no. On the Rai set, this May 26, Giorgia Meloni was clear. The President of the Italian Council will never authorize kyiv to use Western missiles on Russian soil. A response to Jens Stoltenberg, the head of NATO, who, the day before, had declared himself ready to lift “certain restrictions” on their use. This is the new red line. On the one hand, those who fear that this change of heart will provoke an escalation in Moscow. On the other, those who want to give Ukrainians the means to fight on equal terms. Because Putin’s troops benefit from an unfair advantage: entrenched behind their border, they shell Ukrainian cities without kyiv being able to retaliate.
Officially, only the United Kingdom has taken the plunge. In the United States, a bipartisan group of parliamentarians is calling for American weapons to be able to strike Russian territory “under certain circumstances”. In France, the president of the Foreign Affairs Commission, Jean-Louis Bourlanges, affirms that it must no longer be “sanctuaryized”. In fact, “Western missiles are hitting Crimea and Donbass which, according to Putin, are part of Russian territory, notes a Ukrainian diplomat. There has been no escalation.”
Since the start of the war, Kiev’s allies have broken several taboos – sending tanks, long-range missiles, combat planes… What, then, of the current debate, when Moscow does not bother with any principle ? As if shelling civilians – another 16 dead and 43 wounded, this May 26, in Kharkiv – was not a red line…