The UK’s Armed Forces Minister has backed Ukrainian strikes on military targets behind Russian lines, even if Britain had supplied the weapons used.

On Tuesday, James Heappey said there was “every chance’’ that Moscow’s forces would be repelled with allies’ support being supplied to Kyiv.

“It is completely legitimate for Ukraine to be targeting Russia’s depth in order to disrupt the logistics that if they weren’t disrupted will directly contribute to death and carnage on Ukrainian soil,’’ he told Times Radio.

But he dismissed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s claim that western allies were pouring oil on the fire by providing Ukraine with firepower.

Mr Heappey said, of course, Britain backed reported strikes on fuel depots in Russia, noting that it was not necessarily a problem if British-donated weapons were used to hit sites on Russian soil.

He explained that after accepting weapons supplied by allies to Ukraine, they had the range to be used over borders.

“There are lots of countries around the world that operate kits that they have imported from other countries,” noted the UK defence minister. “When those bits of kit are used, we tend not to blame the country that manufactured it; you blame the country that fired it.”

The comments marked a further strengthening of Britain’s position, as allies shifted from caution against antagonising Russian President Vladimir Putin to supplying more and more lethal aid.

(dpa/NAN)