BERLIN, May 31. /TASS/. Germany doesn’t think that the use of its weapons against Russia in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region makes Germany a party to the conflict, deputy government spokesperson Wolfgang Buchner said.
"It has always been clear that we don’t become a party [to the conflict] and a warring party by supplying Ukraine with weapons," he said.
Earlier on Friday, Germany approved the use of German weapons "for defense from Russia" in the Kharkov Region. "In recent weeks, Russia, especially in the Kharkov area, has been preparing, coordinating and conducting attacks from nearby border areas on its own territory," he said. "For defense against these attacks," Western weapons can be used "in accordance with international legal obligations." Hebestreit argued, adding that this also applied to weapons supplied by Germany.
The day before, the Pentagon confirmed that the US President Joe Biden-led administration had agreed on the possibility of strikes with US weapons on Russian territory as part of counter-battery warfare. According to The New York Times, the decision took effect on Thursday, May 30.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, wrote on his Telegram channel on May 31 that Moscow assumed that all long-range weapons supplied to Ukraine were already "directly operated by NATO servicemen." He stated that "this is not military support," but "participation in the war" against Russia. As Medvedev warned, "such actions may become a casus belli" - a pretext for starting combat operations.