Kyiv’s offensive gets a greenish light from its allies

BERLIN — As Ukraine widens its attacks inside Russia, there is no sign that the country’s sometimes reluctant Western allies are putting pressure on Kyiv to ease off.

That includes Germany, an ally which has often been reluctant to risk provoking Russian leader Vladimir Putin, particularly when it comes to providing Ukrainians with weapons they could use to attack Russia.

But there are no flashing red lights from Berlin over this week’s incursion into Russia.

“Ukraine has the right to self defense enshrined in international law,” Germany’s foreign ministry told POLITICO in a statement. “This is not limited to its own territory.”

Many politicians in Germany’s conservative opposition have provided even more full-throated support for the Ukrainian offensive — and the use of German weapons on Russian territory. Roderich Kiesewetter, a senior lawmaker with the Christian Democrats, told POLITICO it’s totally legitimate to strike “staging areas” inside Russia with weapons donated by Germany.

“The question of whether Western weapons are involved doesn’t come up because, after they are delivered, they are Ukrainian weapons,” said Kiesewetter.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has so far refrained from breaking away from his summer vacation to say anything about the incursion.

Scholz has long sought to walk a fine line, touting Germany’s robust military support for Ukraine while depicting himself to his Social Democratic Party (SPD) base as a “peace chancellor” — a leader who knows how to keep the war from spiralling out of control.

For this reason, the chancellor has almost always moved in lockstep with the U.S. when it comes to Ukraine aid on everything from battle tanks to air defense systems. But some weapons have proven to be too much for Scholz to swallow: He continues to resist handing over long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Kyiv despite strong pressure from Ukraine and from the other members of his ruling coalition — the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Greens.

Giving the OK

Both Berlin and Washington shifted policy on hitting Russian territory in May in response to the Russian offensive against Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv. Ukraine “has the right, guaranteed under international law, to defend itself against these attacks,” a German government spokesperson said at the time.

Washington’s approval in May was very carefully couched and limited to areas near Kharkiv. That’s not the same area where Ukrainian troops surged across the border this week — in some places penetrating about 50 kilometers into Russia.

But the U.S. isn’t making a big deal about the incursion.

Four days after Kyiv sent troops into Russia’s Kursk region, there is no imminent sign of an end to fighting. | Government of Kursk region via EFE/EPA

“Obviously, we strongly support Ukraine’s effort to defend against Russia’s aggression,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Thursday, adding: “The policy that we announced was to allow Ukraine to respond to attacks coming from just over the Russian border. And yes, in the area where they are currently operating across the Russian border, we have seen attacks come from there.”

It’s not yet clear what Ukraine’s long-term objectives are for the current offensive, or whether it can hold the territory it has captured.

But four days after Kyiv sent troops into Russia’s Kursk region, there is no imminent sign of an end to fighting. A Russian column on the way to deal with the Ukrainian incursion was destroyed, with Russian videos showing bodies and burnt-out trucks.

What’s more, in the early hours of Friday, Ukraine launched a major drone attack on infrastructure across the Lipetsk region, deeper inside Russia, hitting a key air base.

The Russian military issued a statement on Friday saying: “Attempts by individual [Ukrainian] units to break through deep into the territory in the Kursk direction are being thwarted.”

Kyiv has so far refrained from commenting on the operation, although President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday: “Russia brought war to our land, and it should feel what it has done.”

German weapons

The evidence that Ukraine is using donated weapons in its offensive is growing.

On Thursday, German tabloid Bild cited surveillance images in reporting that German-supplied Marder infantry fighting vehicles were in Russia. Berlin says it sent 120 of the vehicles. But a German government spokesperson said Friday that the government had no information of its own on the use of German weaponry in the current hostilities.

The chair of the Bundestag’s influential defense committee, Marcus Faber, a member of the FDP, told German media that Ukraine was free to use “all materials” donated, including German-made Leopard-2 battle tanks — of which 58 had been given by the close of July — in the attack.

“Ukraine’s attack towards Kursk is completely legitimate and makes military sense,” he added on social media. “We can only wish the Ukrainian defenders every success.”

But the ruling coalition has often been divided on the issue, with the FDP and the Greens being more hawkish, while Scholz’s SPD is warier of angering Moscow.

German military support for Ukraine has also become a key political issue ahead of three state elections in eastern Germany this September. In all three states, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and the populist-left Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht are performing well, with the AfD leading in some polls.

Both parties advocate a more conciliatory approach toward Putin.