During the meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski called on his European Union counterparts to remove restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons from these countries for strikes inside Russia.

While the White House authorized Ukraine to carry out targeted strikes inside Russian territory near Kharkiv Oblast using US-supplied weapons, the restrictions on long-range attacks still remain.

Sikorski argued that allowing Ukraine to use these weapons would enable it to prevent Russian attacks, such as the 8 July shelling of Okhmatdyt, a children’s oncology hospital in Kyiv, according to PAP.

“This would be fully self-defense, which is legal under international law. Defending children’s oncology hospitals is not escalation,” Polish Foreign Minister said.

The Russian strike on Okhmatdyt resulted in two deaths and 32 injuries, including eight hospitalized children.

The permission to strike the Russian territory near the Kharkiv Oblast helped to temporarily protect the city from Russian continuous missile attacks on civilians.

The Polish diplomat also advocated for tightening sanctions against Russia and proposed using frozen Russian assets to finance a loan for Ukraine by the end of the year, PAP reports. This loan would support Ukraine’s functioning and allow for weapons purchases.

Sikorski backed a Czech initiative requiring new Russian passports to be biometric, a measure aimed at complicating certain activities of Russian authorities.

Related:

• Politico: US quietly allowed Ukraine to strike inside Russia, but solely near Kharkiv
• AP: US officials confirm Ukraine’s June strikes inside Russia with American weapons
• Western permission for strikes inside Russia stops S-300 attacks on Kharkiv for days
• Okhmatdyt hospital rescue ends: Russian attack killed two, injured 32