Ukraine secured more than $1 billion new military aid from Belgium in an agreement Tuesday that includes delivery of 30 F-16 fighter jets.

The deal came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Brussels on a trip that also includes stops in Spain and Portugal in seek of fresh help to fight off a Russian invasion that began in early 2022.

“The agreement guarantees Belgium’s timely security assistance, modern armored vehicles, equipment to meet Ukraine’s air force and air defense needs, naval security, mine clearance, participation in the artillery ammunition coalition, and military training,” Zelenskyy said on X.

The Ukrainian leader said the 10-year agreement also included cooperating with Belgium on intelligence, cybersecurity, countering disinformation and the defense industry.

Ukraine and Spain announced a deal Monday for $1.1 billion in military aid this year and more than $5 billion by 2027, with Spain delivering Leopard tanks and artillery ammunition to Ukraine.

At a news conference in Madrid, Zelenskyy urged western allies to allow Ukraine to strike military targets inside Russia with Western-supplied longer-range weapons in self-defense.

“We need to work together and put pressure not only on Russia, but also on our partners to give us the opportunity to defend ourselves against Russia,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukraine needs aerial defense systems to shield itself from Russian airstrikes.

“Even those partners who are afraid to give this or that advice should understand that air defense is defense, not attack,” he said, pointing out that Ukraine is hit by 3,000 Russian aerial bombs each month.

NATO chief

said during a visit Monday to Bulgaria that governments should rethink their restrictions on Ukraine using donated weapons to strike inside Russia, arguing that Ukraine has a right to defend itself, including striking “legitimate targets outside of Ukraine.”

“The Russian forces are on Russian territory attacking, just over the border, Ukrainian territory,” Stoltenberg said. “The front line is more or less the border line, and if you cannot attack the Russian forces on the other side of the front line because they are on the other side of the border, then of course you really reduce the ability of the Ukrainian forces to defend themselves.”

Stoltenberg reiterated that NATO itself is not a party to the conflict but said NATO allies have the right to help Ukraine uphold its right to self-defense by providing military support.

Reactions

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the West is risking a direct confrontation with Russia and a subsequent global war should it allow Ukraine to strike inside Russia with Western weapons.

When asked if NATO was approaching such a confrontation with Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied, “They are not getting close; they are in it.”

Russian officials warned that Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia, including on civilian areas and even parts of Russia’s nuclear defenses, are directly escalatory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that a direct conflict between Russia and NATO over Ukraine could lead to a global war.

Reactions of European leaders have been mixed regarding allowing Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike inside enemy territory.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni opposed giving Ukraine greater flexibility on Russian targets. “I think we have to be very careful,” she told Italian television Sunday.

Earlier this month, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said during a visit to Kyiv that Ukraine had every right to use British-donated missiles to strike inside Russian territory.

On the ground

Ukraine’s military reported Tuesday shooting down three Russian drones involved in overnight attacks. The Ukrainian air force said the intercepts took place over the Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. There were no reports of damage.

Russia’s defense ministry reported fresh Ukrainian aerial attacks on the border regions of Belgorod and Kursk.

The Russian ministry said its forces destroyed two drones over Belgorod and one over Kursk.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the regional governor of Belgorod, said on Telegram that a Ukrainian drone attack damaged a house and a car, but that no one was injured.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters

Source: voanews.com