Germany to help Ukraine build long-range missiles to strike deep inside Russia
The weapons will have no range restrictions, allowing Kyiv to defend itself against ‘military targets outside its own territory’, Merz says
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Berlin will help Kyiv develop new long-range weapons that can hit targets well inside Russian territory.
Both countries’ defence ministers later signed a memorandum of understanding for the production of long-range weapons systems, but without revealing technical details or naming the manufacturers involved.
“There will be no range restrictions, allowing Ukraine to fully defend itself, even against military targets outside its own territory,” Merz told a joint press conference.
Zelensky’s Berlin visit comes days after Russia launched some of its heaviest missile and drone attacks of the conflict on Ukraine, and as US President Donald Trump has voiced growing frustration with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
The Ukrainian president accused Russia of stalling peace talks and said Moscow did not want to halt its three-year invasion, adding that “they will constantly look for reasons not to end the war”.
Merz said that “the massive air strikes, particularly on the city of Kyiv over the weekend, do not speak the language of peace, but rather the language of a war of aggression”.