"Our position has not changed at this point. We do not encourage or enable the Ukrainians to use US-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said today.

Kirby's comments come after French President Emmanuel Macron suggested that Kyiv should be allowed to neutralize military bases from which Russia is firing missiles into Ukrainian territory.

"If we say to them that they do not have the right to strike the point from which the missiles are being launched, we are de facto saying that we are providing you with weapons, but you cannot defend yourself," Macron said at a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at Schloss Meseberg, near Berlin.

"But we must not allow other targets in Russia to be hit, and obviously not civilian capacities," he added.

NATO is pressing Western capitals to lift restrictions that are "tying the hands of the Ukrainians behind their backs", in the words of its Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

The debate over whether Western weapons supplied to Ukraine should be used on Russian soil is causing ripples in Washington and European capitals.

The most reluctant so far – Rome and Berlin in particular – are brandishing the risk of escalation and extension of the conflict, with the underlying risk of Russian President Vladimir Putin using nuclear weapons.

The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, today urged the member states of the European Union to find a balance between the fear of an escalation and the need for the Ukrainians to defend themselves, stating that Kyiv should be able to strike Russian soil with Western weapons.

On Monday, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, an independent institution of the Atlantic Alliance, approved a declaration of support for Ukraine's ability to strike military targets in Russia also with weapons supplied by allied countries.

The text was approved by 47 of the 56 countries or institutions that make up the body, which acts as a link between NATO and the parliaments of the member countries of the Atlantic Alliance.

Russian President Vladimir Putin today warned Europe of "grave consequences" if NATO countries allow Ukraine to use Western weapons against targets on Russian territory.

"These representatives of NATO countries, especially in Europe, especially in small countries, must know what they are playing with," Putin said at a press conference at the end of a visit to Uzbekistan.

"They must remember that, as a rule, these are states with small but densely populated territories," he said.

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