Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said allowing Ukraine to use NATO weapons to attack military targets in Russia would lead to “an escalation that no one will be able to control anymore”. Source: Catholic Review.
“It is a truly disturbing prospect,” the cardinal told reporters on May 30 in Milan, on the sidelines of a book presentation at the city’s Ambrosian Library.
The risk is real and should cause concern for “every person who cares about the fate of our world”, he said.
The cardinal’s comments came in response to a growing number of countries considering lifting or amending restrictions on Ukraine’s use of weapons from Western nations to strike inside Russia.
Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of NATO, said May 30, “I believe that time has come to (re)consider some of these restrictions to enable the Ukrainians to really defend themselves”, according to The Associated Press.
“This is a war of aggression launched by choice by Moscow against Ukraine,” he said, and the right to self-defence “includes also striking legitimate military targets outside Ukraine.”
New reports published on May 30 said United States President Joe Biden agreed Ukraine could use some US-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia but only to defend the city, Kharkiv, a Ukrainian city that lies just 19 kilometres from the Russian border and that has been the target of a major Russian assault since May 10.
And Germany announced on May 31 it will allow Ukraine to use German weapons to strike targets in Russia, joining other NATO members in easing restrictions on what Ukraine can do with donated military weapons.
Leaders opposed to allowing Ukraine to use foreign weaponry to launch attacks on Russian soil are concerned such a move would be seen as a provocation and lead to Russia widening the conflict.
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Cardinal: Ukraine using NATO weapons to strike Russia risks escalation (By Carol Glatz, CNS via Catholic Review)
