NATO military chair, others back Ukraine's use of long-range weapons to hit Russia, 

The head of NATO’s military committee says Ukraine has legal and military right.

 PRAGUE -- The head of NATO's military committee said Saturday that Ukraine has the solid legal and military right to strike deep inside Russia to gain combat advantage, reflecting the beliefs of a number of U.S. allies, even as the Biden administration balks at letting Kyiv do so using American-made weapons.

"Every nation that is attacked has the right to defend itself. And that right doesn't stop at the border of your own nation,." said Adm. Rob Bauer at the close of the committee's annual meeting also attended by U.S. Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Nations have the sovereign right to put limits on the weapons they send to Ukraine," Bauer of Netherlands added, standing next to Lt. Gen. Karel Řehka, chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces, who made it clear his nation places no such weapon restrictions on Kyiv.

"We believe that the Ukrainians should decide themselves how to use it," he said at a press briefing.

Their comments came as U.S. President Joe Biden weighs whether to allow Ukraine to use American-provided long-range weapons to hit deep into Russia. And they hint at the divisions over the issue.

Biden held talks with British PM Keir Starmer on Friday, after their respective top diplomats visited Kyiv this week under new pressure to ease the restrictions on arms supplies. Officials briefed on the conversations said that they thought Starmer himself had asked Biden for permission to let Ukraine use British Storm Shadow missiles to grant Ukrainian forces permission to begin weapons strikes into Russia proper.

Biden's approval might be necessary because Storm Shadow parts are manufactured in the United States. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing private conversations, said they believe that Biden would be favorable to the plan, but no official decision has been made.

The most pressing issue on the agenda of the meeting of NATO chiefs yesterday was offering further aid and training to Ukraine, but it remained unclear whether the American restrictions became part of the debate on Saturday.

Many European countries have been passionately pro-Ukraine partly for fear of being next in line as an empowered Russia becomes an increasingly more likely culprit.

At the outset of the meeting, Czech Republic President Petr Pavel urged the military chiefs present to "be bold and open in articulating your assessments and recommendations. The rounder and the softer they are, the less they will be understood by the political level.".

The allies, he said, must "take the right steps and the right decisions to protect our countries and our way of life."

The military leaders routinely develop plans and recommendations that are then sent to the civilian NATO defense secretaries for discussion and then on to the nations' leaders in the alliance.

The US would permit Ukraine to use arms provided by America in cross-border attacks to defend itself from advances by Russian forces. However, it will not allow Kyiv to make deep strikes into Russia by a long-range missile like the ATACMS. America argues that Ukraine should actually use drones judiciously since it cannot possibly have too many.

Ukraine has been more vocal with Washington in increasing the pressure of the sanctions, especially ahead of winter as Kyiv fears that Russia could achieve some of its strategic gains during the cold season.

"We want to weaken the enemy that attacks you so not only do we deal with the arrows that come your way, but also we launch an attack on the archer that is, as we see him, very often operating from Russia proper into Ukraine," said Bauer. "So militarily, there is a good reason to do that, to weaken the enemy, to weaken its logistic lines, fuel, ammunition that comes to the front. That is what you want to stop, if at all possible."

Brown told reporters who accompanied him to the meeting that US policy on long-range weapons remains unchanged.

But, he said, "by the same token, what we want to do is — in service of all that policy — we want to continue to make Ukraine successful with the capabilities that have been provided" by the U.S. and other nations in the coalition, as well as the weapons Kyiv has been able to build itself.

They have proven themselves quite effective in building out uncrewed aerial vehicles, in building out drones," Brown told reporters traveling with him to meetings in Europe.

Similarly, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has made similar points, arguing one weapons system will not determine success in the war.

"There are a number of things that go into the overall equation as to whether or not you know you want to provide one capability or another, he said Friday. "There is no silver bullet when it comes to things like this."