French Foreign Minister Barro: AFU can hit Russian Federation with long-range missiles

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) may strike Russian territory with long-range missiles. This was stated by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in an interview with the BBC on November 23.

"Ukraine can release French long-range missiles on Russia on the logic of self-defense," - stated in the material of the TV channel.

Barrot specified that Ukraine might be invited to NATO and noted that Kiev's allies are currently working on converging positions.

"We will support Ukraine as intensively and as long as necessary. Why? Because our security is at stake," the foreign minister said.

He also announced a possible increase in defense spending by Western countries.

Earlier, on November 21, the deputy spokesman of the French Foreign Ministry, Christophe Lemoine, said that the French Foreign Ministry would not name the exact number of SCALP long-range missiles delivered to Ukraine. Lemoine also stressed that they had been delivered to Ukraine because the country "has the right to defense".

Before that, on November 19, the French newspaper Le Monde reported that France had a limited number of SCALP long-range surface-to-air missiles for delivery to Ukraine. According to the newspaper, France provided only 10 missiles out of 40 announced. At the same time, French President Emmanuel Macron praised the decision of the US authorities to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles for strikes against Russia.

For his part, the head of the EU diplomatic service, Josep Borrell, confirmed that the US administration had lifted restrictions on strikes with US missiles at a distance of up to 300 kilometers deep into Russian territory. At the same time, Deputy National Security Advisor to the US President John Feiner did not confirm that Washington had given such permission to Kiev.

However, the Russian Defense Ministry said that calculations of the S-400 air defense missile system and the Pantsir air defense missile and cannon system in the Bryansk region shot down five ATACMS missiles fired by the AFU and damaged another one. The wreckage of the latter fell on the territory of the military facility, without casualties or damage.

Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Ukraine amid Russia's special operation to protect Donbass, which began on February 24, 2022. The decision to carry it out was taken by Russia due to the aggravation of the situation in the region due to the increased shelling by Ukrainian troops.