It felt like a watershed moment. During his state visit to Germany earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron called for Ukraine to be allowed to strike military targets within Russia with Western weapons. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz did not object and stressed that international law does allow for Ukraine to hit targets on Russian territory.

Prior to this, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg had also expressed support, along with government representatives from the United Kingdom, Poland, and the Baltic countries. The United States and Germany so far had argued against it, citing fears of escalation.

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In European capitals, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been increasingly pushing to break this taboo. His military appears to be getting weaker, partly because the United States has not delivered weapons for months. In northeastern Ukraine, near the Russian border, Russia is bombing Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, on a daily basis.

The Russian army has made several territorial gains and, according to Ukrainian reports, is gathering forces for a potentially larger push. So far, Ukraine has only attacked targets within internationally recognized Russian territory with its own weapons. Western weapons were only used against enemy troops on territories occupied by Russia on the Crimean Peninsula and in eastern Ukraine.

Colonel Lieutenant Yaroslav Matisek of the US Air Force and professor at the US Naval War College believes that Ukraine cannot defend cities like Kharkiv without using Western weapons against Russian targets........

© Deutsche Welle