Ukraine has no plans to hit targets in Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said in Germany, where Kyiv secured a big new defence aid package.
“We are not attacking Russian territory,” he said after talks in Berlin with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“We are preparing a counterattack to de-occupy the illegitimately conquered territories,” Mr Zelensky added.
Mr Scholz vowed to back Ukraine “for as long as it is necessary”, promising €2.7bn (£2.4bn) worth of weapons.
This includes advanced German Leopard tanks and more anti-aircraft systems to defend Ukraine from almost daily deadly Russian missile and drone attacks.
President Zelensky described the new tranche as “the largest since the beginning of the full-scale aggression” by Russia in February 2022.
The war has transformed Germany’s attitude towards Ukraine, moving from being a reluctant supplier of military hardware to virtually doubling its contribution overnight, the BBC’s Jenny Hill in Berlin says.
Russia accuses Ukraine of repeatedly hitting targets inside Russia, including a reported drone attack on Moscow’s Kremlin earlier this month.
Ukraine denies the accusations, while also stressing that it has a legitimate right to use force and other means to fully de-occupy its territories currently under Russian control. These include four regions in the south and east, as well as the Crimea peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Later on Sunday, President Zelensky travelled to the western city of Aachen to receive the prestigious Charlemagne Prize awarded this year to him and the Ukrainian people. The honour is given for efforts to foster European unity.
“Ukraine incarnates everything the European idea is living for: the courage of convictions, the fight for values and freedom, the commitment to peace and unity,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at the award ceremony.
