Finland has not restricted Kyiv from using weapons it supplied to the Ukrainian army against military targets on Russian soil, the Finnish broadcaster Yle reported Thursday, citing a senior member of parliament.
Helsinki first approved military aid to Ukraine in the days after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Overall, Finland has provided Kyiv with 22 defense aid packages worth almost $2 billion, though the Nordic country does not disclose details of its deliveries.
“Ukraine has the right to use these [Finnish] weapons against military targets also on Russian soil,” Jukka Kopra, chair of the Finnish parliamentary defense committee, told Yle.
“It is a completely legitimate defensive battle that Ukraine is waging. The UN Charter allows military targets to be attacked across land borders,” Kopra said.
It was not clear whether Ukraine's military had already used Finnish-supplied weapons systems against targets inside Russia.
Since invading Ukraine two years ago, Russian regions near the border have been subjected to deadly drone and missile strikes. Ukrainian military officials have started claiming responsibility for some of the attacks in recent months.
Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen said restrictions on the use of Western weapons have been set mainly by Ukraine’s allies that had provided long-range arms.
He urged Germany to deliver long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
A key condition for Western military aid to Ukraine is the commitment to avoid using it on Russian soil, Yle cited Finland’s defense forces as saying in an email.
The United States, Ukraine’s largest weapons donor, had initially prohibited Kyiv from using its weapons against targets inside Russia, but Washington has since eased those restrictions.
Ukraine’s European allies, including Finnish President Saudi Niinisto, met in Paris on Monday where they ruled out sending troops to the country in its fight against Russia.
