Merz says Ukraine's key allies no longer imposing range limits on weapons

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday that Germany, along with Ukraine's other major Western backers, had lifted range restrictions on weapons they send to Kyiv to fight against Russia.

Mr Merz, who took office early this month, also vowed that "we will do everything in our power to continue supporting Ukraine, including militarily", in close co-ordination with other backers.

"There are no longer any range restrictions on weapons delivered to Ukraine – neither by the British nor by the French nor by us nor by the Americans," he said. "This means that Ukraine can now defend itself, for example, by attacking military positions in Russia … with very few exceptions, it didn't do that until recently. It can now do that."

The previous German government of centre-left chancellor Olaf Scholz strongly backed Ukraine but shied away from sending it long-range Taurus missiles, worried that this might escalate tensions further. Mr Merz has in the past said he favours delivery of Taurus, which could strike targets deep inside Russia.

His government has since said it will no longer detail what arms it sends to Ukraine, preferring a stance of strategic ambiguity. Speaking in a lengthy interview with the public broadcaster WDR, Mr Merz did not say whether Germany would now send Taurus missiles to Ukraine.

He did take the opportunity to slam Russian President Vladimir Putin's for his reluctance to engage in talks to end the fighting in Ukraine. Mr Putin has responded to diplomatic efforts to bring the conflict to an end by prosecuting the war "harder than before", Mr Merz told WDR. "Putin obviously sees offers of talks as a sign of weakness," he added.

The Kremlin on Monday said European countries lifting restrictions on long-range missile capabilities for Ukraine would be a dangerous move. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said such a decision would run counter to aspirations for a political settlement to the crisis.

Since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House this year, he has sought to push the two sides in the conflict towards direct talks at the highest level. Mr Trump last week suggested the Vatican as a possible host for a meeting, with the Italian government saying the leader of the Catholic Church was ready to organise talks.

But Moscow has cast doubt on the potential for the Holy See as a host. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said it would be "inelegant" for the Catholic Church to mediate discussions between two principally Orthodox Christian countries.

Mr Merz said that Ukraine's Western backers had sought to use all the diplomatic options available to them to initiate talks. "After the last three weeks, no one can seriously accuse us of not having exhausted all available diplomatic means," Mr Merz said.

Short of "raising the white flag", Ukraine's supporters had "done everything" they could. "If even an offer to meet at the Vatican does not get (Putin's) approval, then we must be prepared for this war to last longer than we all wish or can imagine."