Western allies are no longer imposing any restrictions on the use of long-range weapons delivered to Ukraine against Russian military targets, the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday.
The restrictions have been lifted by the UK, France, Germany and the U.S, he said.
“There are no longer any restrictions on the range of weapons delivered to Ukraine, neither by the UK, France, nor us. There are no restrictions by the US either,” he said during a discussion forum organized by public broadcaster, WDR.
The German chancellor said that while Kyiv is using its weapons to target Russian military infrastructure, Russia continues to attack Ukrainian “cities, kindergartens, hospitals and care homes.”
“Russia attacks civilian targets completely ruthlessly, bombing cities, kindergartens, hospitals and old people’s homes – Ukraine doesn’t do that.”
Ukraine can now “defend itself, for example, by attacking military facilities in Russia,” he said. “Until recently, it couldn’t do that, and apart from very few exceptions, it hadn’t done so either.”
Merz explained that this was one of the reasons for his visit to Kyiv together with the leaders of France, the UK and Poland on 10 May.
In the past Ukraine received long-range missiles from the US, the UK and France, but was only allowed to use them against Russian military forces in occupied Ukrainian territories.
Before coming to office, Merz made it known he would cancel the ban of his predecessor, Olaf Scholz, on delivering Germany’s Taurus cruise missiles which can strike targets at a range of 500 kilometers.
Lifting the restrictions on the use of long-range weapons will make “the decisive difference in Ukraine’s warfare,” Merz explained, adding that “a country that can only oppose an attacker on its own territory is not defending itself adequately.”
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