Germany’s Merz offers to help Ukraine develop its own long-range missiles to hit Russia

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BERLIN — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged Wednesday to help Ukraine develop its own long-range missile systems that would be free of any Western-imposed limitations on their range and target options as the Kyiv government fights to repel Russia’s invasion. 

Some of the advanced weapon systems that Kyiv’s Western partners have supplied to Ukraine during the more than three-year war were subject to range and target restrictions. The limits have been a fraught political issue, stemming from fears that if the weapons struck Russia, the Kremlin might retaliate against the country that provided them and suck NATO into Europe’s biggest conflict since the Second World War. 

Merz said in Berlin, alongside visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that under an intensified cooperation agreement Germany “will strive to equip the Ukrainian army with all the capabilities that truly enable it to successfully defend the country,” including upgraded domestic missile production. 

Germany has been the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States. 

“Ukraine will be able to fully defend itself including against military targets outside its own territory” with its own missiles, Merz said at a joint news conference. 

Merz’s pledge came as the past few months of intense U.S.-led peace efforts have brought no significant breakthrough and with analysts saying Russia is poised to launch a major summer offensive. 

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul was set to meet in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later Wednesday. 

Germany doesn’t mention its Taurus cruise missiles 

Merz declined to say whether Germany will supply its advanced Taurus long-range cruise missile to Ukraine — long a request by Kyiv and a step that Berlin has resisted. 

Asked about Germany’s offer to fund long-range missile production in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that the move was an obstacle to reaching a peace agreement. 

Both Merz and Zelenskyy criticized the Kremlin’s effective rejection of an unconditional ceasefire proposed by the U.S., which Kyiv accepted, and its delay in responding to proposals for a settlement. 

Merz said last Monday that Germany and other major allies were no longer imposing range limits on weapons they send to Ukraine, though he indicated their use was limited to Russian military targets. 

Then U.S. President Joe Biden late last year authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied missiles for limited strikes into Russia. The decision allowed Ukraine to use the Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, against Russia. 

In Berlin, Zelenskyy called for deeper defence cooperation across Europe and with the United States, stressing the need for long-range capabilities and sustained military funding to ensure Ukraine’s resilience. 

“We need sufficient long-range capabilities. That’s why we must be certain of the financing of our army and the stability of Ukraine,” he said. 

He said the cooperation projects already exist. “We simply want (the missiles) to be produced in the quantity we need,” Zelenskyy told the news conference. 

Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Ukraine is ready to hold peace talks at the highest level, including a trilateral meeting with himself, Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump. 

“We are ready to meet at the level of leaders. Both the American side knows this, and the Russian side knows this,” he said. Zelenskyy said he would accept any configuration of talks, whether that includes one trilateral meeting or separate meetings with Trump. 

Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said that Russia is grateful to Trump for his mediation efforts. 

“At the same time, there is a big number of nuances to be discussed that can’t be neglected and which neither party is going to sacrifice, because of its national interests,” Peskov told reporters. “Just like the United States, Russia has its national interests that are of primary importance to us.” 

He said that Moscow will “soon” deliver its promised memorandum on a framework for a peace settlement. 

Front-line fighting, deep strikes continue

Meanwhile, fighting has continued along the roughly 1,000-kilometre front line, where Ukraine’s army is shorthanded against its bigger adversary. Zelenskyy claimed Tuesday that Russia is mobilizing up to 45,000 men every month, while Ukraine mobilizes between 25,000-27,000. 

Both sides are continuing to conduct deep strikes. Russia launched its biggest drone attack of the war against Ukraine on Sunday. 

Russian air defences downed 296 Ukrainian drones over 13 Russian regions late Tuesday and early Wednesday, Russia’s Defence Ministry said, in what appeared to be one of the biggest Ukrainian drone assaults of the war. 

Ukraine is increasing its domestic production of drones and missiles, according to Zelenskyy. He said late Tuesday that Ukraine wants European countries to help it invest in the manufacturing of attack drones, air defence interceptors, cruise missiles and ballistic systems. 

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that air defences shot down Ukrainian 33 drones heading toward the capital. 

Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region, said that 42 drones were downed. He said that drone fragments damaged three residential buildings in the village of Troitskoye, but no one was hurt. 

Russia’s federal aviation agency, Rosaviatsiya, said Wednesday that more than 60 flights had been canceled across Moscow as the capital’s airports were forced to ground planes amid drone warnings. 

Overnight, Russian forces launched an attack on Ukraine using five Iskander ballistic missiles, one guided air-launched missile and 88 drones, Ukraine’s Air Force said Wednesday. Air defence units shot down 34 drones, and 37 drones were jammed. 

— Hanna Arhirova and Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Philipp Jenne in Vienna, contributed to this report.