WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Ukraine on Thursday urged NATO to lift restrictions on use of long-range weapons against targets in Russia, saying it would be “game-changer” in its war with Moscow, while China slammed NATO criticism of its support for Russia as biased and malicious.
NATO members issued a declaration in support of Ukraine at a summit in Washington on Wednesday, promising additional aid and pledging to support its “irreversible path” to NATO membership. NATO leaders will hold a two-hour session with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday afternoon.
Andryi Yermak, the chief of the Ukrainian president’s cabinet, said he was “satisfied” with NATO’s summit statement on Wednesday, but added:
“The partners have to take off any restrictions to use weapons not just by Ukrainian territory but have the possibility to answer (Russian attacks) including the territory of Russia.
He told a public forum on the final day of the three-day NATO summit that Russia had no restrictions and it would be “a real game-changer” if Ukraine’s allies could lift all limits on the use of the weapons they supply to Ukraine, which has been at war with Russia since 2022.
NATO members have taken different approaches to how Ukraine can use weapons they donate. Some have made clear Kyiv can use them to strike targets inside Russia while others have said they can only be used inside Ukraine.
In May, U.S. President Joe Biden loosened some restrictions on the use of U.S. weapons, allowing them to be used to hit military targets inside Russia supporting an offensive against the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
ANGRY WORDS FROM CHINA
Wednesday’s NATO declaration also included sharp words about China, calling it “a decisive enabler” of Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, and said Beijing continues to pose systemic challenges to Europe and to security.
China’s Foreign Ministry said the declaration was biased and “sowing discord” and its mission to the European Union described it as being “full of Cold War mentality and belligerent rhetoric, and China-related content full of provocations, lies, incitement and smears.”
NATO member Hungary said ahead of a meeting of the 32 NATO countries with partners from the so-called Indo-Pacific Four (IP-4) – Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea – that it does not want NATO to become an “anti-China” bloc, and will not support it doing so.
Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told Hungarian state television NATO was “a defense alliance” and added when asked about alliance-building efforts in the Indo-Pacific: “we can’t organize it into an anti-China bloc.”
China remains an important trade and investment partner for Hungary, while other European countries are seeking to become less dependent on Beijing.
For its part, China has repeatedly lashed out at NATO criticisms and has warned against its expansion into the Indo-Pacific.
The leaders of Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia have forged stronger ties with NATO amid rising concerns over China’s pressure on rival claimants in disputed waters in the region and on democratic Taiwan, the global hub of cutting edge chip production, which Beijing claims as its own.
PROJECTING UNITY
NATO leaders have been seeking to project unity at the summit while countering what most see as a growing threat posed by Russia and China to both Europe and the Indo-Pacific amid worries that November’s U.S. presidential election could yield a sharp change in Washington’s support for Ukraine and NATO.
Biden’s uneven performance in a June 27 debate against his rival Donald Trump and low public approval ratings have raised fresh doubts about his mental fitness to stand again, with nine Democratic members of Congress and one Democratic senator calling for him to step aside.
Biden, 81, will hold a rare solo news conference on Thursday afternoon, where reporters are certain to question his candidacy, despite his hope to shift the narrative, surrounded by allied leaders he has cultivated.
Zelenskiy will also hold a news conference with Stoltenberg after his meetings with both Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday.
The Ukrainian leader is keen to cement ties with U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle in the event that Trump is reelected.
He told reporters he invited Mike Johnson, the Republican leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, to visit Kyiv.
A NATO declaration said the allies would provide at least 40 billion euros ($43 billion) in military aid to Ukraine within the next year, although they stopped short of the multi-year commitment Stoltenberg had sought.
NATO and the four Indo-Pacific countries are set to launch new joint projects at the summit – on Ukraine, artificial intelligence, disinformation, and cybersecurity.
Greeting South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Stoltenberg said Russia’s closer cooperation with North Korea showed how European and Indo-Pacific security were interlinked.
He said NATO was “deeply concerned” Russia could support North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs in return for weapons NATO says North Korea has provided Russia for use in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Trump said he would not pull the U.S. out of NATO but reiterated that he wanted members to pay more. Trump had pressed congressional Republicans to stall military aid for Ukraine before later reversing course earlier this year.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a long-time supporter of Trump, made surprise visits to Kyiv, Moscow and Beijing in the past two weeks on a self-styled “peace mission”. He and Trump will meet on Thursday at the the latter’s Florida home, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
His meeting in Moscow with Putin in particular angered some fellow NATO allies, who said the trip handed legitimacy to Putin’s claims to Ukrainian territory seized since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Idrees Ali, Simon Lewis, Daphne Psaledakis, Andrew Gray and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Don Durfee, Michael Perry, Peter Graff and Alistair Bell)
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