Germany’s new prime minister, Friedrich Merz, said his country and its allies have lifted all range restrictions on weapons delivered to Ukraine.
Merz tries to ensure that the ceasefire maintains Western support for Ukraine, appearing to be trying to sustain diplomatic efforts.
“We will do our best to continue to support Ukraine. This also means no longer imposing any restrictions on the weapons we provide. Ukraine can now defend itself by attacking Russian military posts,” he posted on social media platform X.
Putin Mulls hits Kyiv with new treble missile
Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is hearing the announcement of the results announced during the meeting of the lower house of the German Parliament to elect the new German Chancellor in Berlin, Germany on May 6, 2025. (Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch)
In a accompanying statement on Monday, Melz said the scope restrictions on weapons delivered to Ukraine would include the United Kingdom, France and the United States.
“This means that Ukraine can also defend itself by attacking Russia’s military stance,” Melz said in a forum organized by WDR Public Television. “Until not long ago, it couldn’t. … It’s OK now.”
“We call this the term ‘range fire’ and also provides Ukraine with weapons to attack military targets in the hinterland,” he added.
German opposition leader and Christian Union party leader Friedrich Merz met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday, November 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
The United States preached Ukraine before Putin’s “experimental intermediate ballistic” attack
Just last week, Meers called on Germany to defend democracy and strengthen the constitutional state in the conflict.
“The Basic Law enables us to live in freedom, peace and security – we are proud of it. But our freedom is from within and unprecedented. Therefore, we must defend our democracy every day for a strong constitutional country.”
Melz’s remarks hit Ukraine with more than 300 missiles and drones in Moscow.
General view of the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia on August 12, 2024. (Reuters/Maxim Shemetov)
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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that lifting scope restrictions would be dangerous in a statement, saying it was “as opposed to our efforts to achieve political reconciliation.”
Moscow warned the West not to lift restrictions, claiming that doing so would make criminals targeted by the Kremlin and face threats from nuclear weapons.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
