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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said Ukraine should be allowed to use Western-supplied weapons in strikes against targets inside Russia.

In an interview with The Economist published on May 24, the NATO head called on members to “consider whether they should lift” their current restrictions, saying they make it “very hard” for Ukraine to defend itself.

Stoltenberg acknowledged the risk of escalation, saying the challenge was to "prevent this war becoming a full-fledged war between Russia and NATO in Europe".

“We provide training, we provide weapons, ammunition to Ukraine, but we will not be directly involved from NATO territory in combat operations over or in Ukraine... So, that’s a different thing," he said.

"We don’t have any intention to send NATO ground troops into Ukraine because our purpose…has been two-fold, to support Ukraine as we do, but also to ensure that we don’t escalate this into a full-scale conflict," Stoltenberg added.