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German chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that Berlin would seek to help Kyiv jointly develop new long-range weapons that can strike deep inside Russia.
Heralding the beginning of a “new form of military industrial cooperation between our two countries,” Merz said that Germany and Ukraine would seek to “enable joint production” of weaponry.
“Our defence ministers will sign a memorandum of understanding today regarding the procurement of Ukrainian-made long-range weapons systems, so-called Long Range Fires,” Merz said.
“There will be no range restrictions, allowing Ukraine to fully defend itself, even against military targets outside its own territory,” he added.
The production of such weapons would take place “both in Ukraine and here in Germany.”
Germany’s defence ministry also announced that Ukraine will receive an expanded €5 billion military aid package, including funding to support the production of weapons already in Ukraine that could be deployed within weeks.
On Monday, Merz declared that Western allies including the US and France, would no longer place any restrictions on the use of long-range weapons delivered to Ukraine for use against Russian targets.
Later, he sought to temper his comments by elaborating that the decision to lift any restrictions on the use of Western-supplied long-range weapons was made “months ago.”
“In this respect, yesterday in Berlin, I described something that has been happening for months: namely, that Ukraine has the right to use the weapons it receives, even beyond its own borders, against military targets on Russian territory,” Merz clarified.
Merz’s comments caused a stir over whether the chancellor was green-lighting the use of long-range Taurus missiles, weaponry that the previous government headed by former leader Olaf Scholz refused to provide to Ukraine over fears it could unnecessarily provoke Russia.
Within his own ranks Roderich Kiesewetter, a senior politician belonging to Merz’s Christian Democratic Union party (CDU), criticised the leader for making contradictory comments on the matter.
“I still see no unity in the coalition and no political will to respond appropriately and with strength and consistency to Russia’s massive escalation,” Kiesewetter wrote in a post on X. “Such statements are therefore not helpful overall because they highlight Europe’s weakness to Russia.”
When asked by reporters in Berlin if Germany would supply Ukraine with the specific 500km-range weapons, Merz said they “want to talk about production and we will not publicly discuss details.”
The Taurus missiles have the ability to reach further inside Russian territory than other missiles.
The Kremlin has warned that allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles would harm efforts to reach a ceasefire deal.
On Tuesday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Merz spoke with “pretentiousness” during his declaration that restrictions had been lifted.
Kremlin spokesperson Dimitry Peskov said that Merz’s comments had caused confusion, adding that Kyiv’s use of long-range missiles would be an “escalation” of the conflict.
Ukraine has received long-range missiles from allies such as the US, UK and France but has so far only been allowed to use them against Russian military forces in Ukrainian occupied territories.
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