German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said today that his government and Ukraine's other main Western allies would no longer limit the permissible range of weapons they had supplied to Kiev, a move Moscow immediately described as "quite dangerous."
"There are no more range restrictions on the weapons that have been delivered to Ukraine. Not by the British, not by the French, not by us, not by the Americans," Merck told German public broadcaster WDR in Berlin.
This means, he said, that Ukraine can now defend itself, for example by attacking Russian military positions, with certain exceptions, which it had not done before.
"She can do it now," said Merz, who took office in early May.
The Chancellor did not clarify whether the lifting of range restrictions would also apply to weapons that Berlin will deliver to Ukraine in the future, in particular the long-range Taurus missile.
Under the previous government of Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, Germany, which is Ukraine's second largest supplier of military equipment, refused to deliver Taurus missiles, fearing an escalation of tensions with Russia.
Before becoming chancellor in early May, Merz said he supported the delivery of these missiles, which have a range of more than 500 kilometers and can reach deep into Russian territory. He later became less explicit about this, saying that for strategic reasons, so as not to inform Moscow, he would no longer discuss in detail the weapons Germany would send to Ukraine.
So far, Germany has supplied Ukraine with weapons with ranges of up to about 70 kilometers.
Merck said that Germany's allies will do everything in their power to continue to support Ukraine militarily.
The Kremlin described Mercosur's announcement that major Western allies would lift restrictions on the range of weapons supplied to Ukraine as "quite dangerous."
"If these decisions really happened, they are absolutely contrary to our aspirations to find a political solution (...) And therefore it is a rather dangerous decision," said Dmitry Peskov, the Russian president's spokesman, in a video broadcast by Russian media.
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