German foreign minister backs Ukraine’s drone attacks on Moscow

August 22, 2023

BERLIN(AA)German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday defended Ukraine’s drone attacks inside Russia and argued that Kyiv is acting within international law.

“Russia has attacked Ukraine, and therefore Ukraine has a right enshrined in the UN Charter to defend its country, to defend its people,” Baerbock said at a joint news conference with her Estonian counterpart Margus Tsahkna in Berlin.

Responding to a question on the recent drone attacks targeting Moscow, she said: “Russia has violated the prohibition of the use of force in the UN Charter. Russia is bombing civilian targets in Ukraine relentlessly, targeting grain silos, hospitals, and churches. Ukraine is defending itself within the framework of international law.”

Estonia's top diplomat also voiced support for Ukraine’s counteroffensive and stressed that Kyiv’s military operations are within international law.

“Russia is responsible for starting the aggression. Russia is responsible of starting genocide. Russia is responsible of everything what it’s doing in Ukraine,” Tsahkna said.

“We must push Russia back to Russia. We must use every kind of opportunities for that,” he added.

In response to Baerbock's comments, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview to Izvestia newspaper that this is what the West is called “sponsors of terrorism.”

“I can reassure them: everything will return. And Western Europe will, unfortunately, bleed from internal terrorism. Because if the official authorities consider terrorism to be the norm, it will become the norm in their homes, too,” Zakharova said.