Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz have always been careful to avoid escalation with Russia, but on Tuesday, May 28, both took a new step in their military support for Ukraine. At a French-German Council of Ministers meeting, the French president agreed for the first time to allow Kyiv to strike military targets on Russian territory, while the German chancellor made a more cautious, but new, approach on the issue.

"We must allow [the Ukrainians] to neutralize the military sites from which the missiles are fired, the military sites from which Ukraine is being attacked," said Macron, speaking at a press conference at Meseberg Castle, near Berlin, on the final day of his state visit to Germany. "But we should not allow them to touch other targets in Russia, and obviously civilian capacities," he added. "What has changed is that Russia has adapted its practices somewhat," the French president justified. Using maps to support his position, he noted that Russia was bombing the city of Kharkiv and its environs from its own soil and no longer from occupied territories: "If we tell [the Ukrainians] 'you're not allowed to reach the point from which missiles are fired,' actually, we are telling them, 'we are delivering you weapons, but you cannot defend yourselves."

While Germany is still refusing to deliver its long-range Taurus missiles to Kyiv, Scholz also opened the door for the tanks transferred by Berlin to the front to strike Russian territory. "Ukraine has every opportunity to do so, within the framework of international law," he said. "We have to say it clearly, it is under attack and it can defend itself."

The issue has been troubling for Ukraine's allies for weeks, with President Volodymyr Zelensky repeatedly calling for the possibility of striking Russian territory, despite Western restrictions on the weapons they supply. "There's no change to our policy at this point. We don't encourage or enable the use of US-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia," commented John Kirby, spokesman for the United States National Security Council, after Macron's announcement. NATO, on the other hand, urged Western capitals to lift restrictions that "ties one hand of the Ukrainians on their back and makes it very hard for them to conduct defense," according to its secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, speaking at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Sofia, Bulgaria on Monday.

Earlier on Tuesday, Vladimir Putin had sent out a warning to European countries. "This constant escalation can lead to serious consequences," the Russian president threatened from Tashkent, Uzbekistan. "In Europe, especially in small countries, they should be aware of what they are playing with," he said, noting that many European countries had "small territory" and a "dense population."

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