BRUSSELS, May 27. / TASS/. Foreign ministers from EU member countries at a meeting on Monday discussed the lifting of restrictions that bar Ukraine from using NATO-provided weapons for strikes inside Russia, top EU diplomat Josep Borrell said.
"We discussed <…> more air defense systems, in particular, more Patriots, and also the lifting of restrictions on the use of Western weapons against Russian military in Russia. This is a growing debate," he said at a news conference following the European Council meeting in Brussels.
According to Borrell, the EU understands that Ukraine has to resist attacks from Russia.
"Some member states have been lifting the restrictions for Ukrainians to be able to use our military support to respond to the Russian attacks from the Russian territory," he said.
Earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg suggested in an interview with the Economist that NATO allies revisit the issue of whether Ukraine should be able to use Western weapons to strike military sites on the internationally recognized Russian territory. At the same time, the NATO chief said at a session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly that NATO member countries shouldn’t have their troops on the ground in, or in the air over Ukraine, or it would be very hard to keep the alliance out of the conflict.