Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during the NATO Summit, Vilnius, Lithuania, July 12, 2023


Sunday’s Coverage, Day 872: Another Russian “Double Tap” Missile Attack Kills 2 First Responders


Map: Institute for the Study of War


UPDATE 1340 GMT:

At least one civilian was killed and at least 24 injured by Russian attacks against Ukraine on Sunday.

One person was slain and at least 10 injured in the Donetsk region. Other casualties were reported in the Kherson, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Sumy regions.


ORIGINAL ENTRY: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says Ukraine has the right under international law to attack military targets inside Russia.

Stoltenberg told a telethon on Sunday on July 14:

My position is that there is no doubt that Ukraine has the right to attack legitimate military targets on the territory of the aggressor country, Russia.

This is clearly defined by international law. Since this is a war that Russia started against Ukraine, Ukraine has the right to self-defense, and this includes strikes on the territory of the aggressor. This is absolutely clear to me.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has pressed allies for permission to strike military positions inside Russia that are supporting Vladimir Putin’s invasion and carrying out missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian civilians and energy infrastructure.

Ukraine has British and French long-range Storm Shadow and SCALP missiles. In April, the US finally agreed to provide ATACMS missiles with a range of up to 300 miles.

At last week’s NATO summit, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer indicated that Kyiv may use the Storm Shadows as it sees fit to repel Russia’s invasion.

At the end of May, the Biden Administration finally agreed that the Ukrainians could use HIMARS rocket systems against Russian positions directly enabling a cross-border offensive into the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine.

But US officials maintained the ban on any strikes with ATACMS further inside Russia.

Stoltenberg noted that more of Ukraine’s partners are “easing their restrictions”: “I welcome the decision of the allies to open up the possibility of greater use of weapons to strike these targets.”

However, US President Joe Biden said at the summit last Thursday that the strikes wouldn’t “make sense”.