Russia’s foreign minister has accused European leaders of secretly giving Ukraine the green light to launch long-range strikes inside Russian territory.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday that there were “no longer any restrictions” on the range of weapons delivered to Ukraine by Germany, France, the UK and the US.
“Ukraine can now also defend itself by attacking military positions in Russia,” Mr Merz said on X.
“Until recently, it couldn’t do that, and apart from very few exceptions, it hadn’t done so either.”
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov – a key ally of President Vladimir Putin – said Mr Merz’s remarks about long-range Ukrainian strikes into Russia with European weapons suggested a decision allowing such attacks had been made long ago and kept secret.
There has long been discussion about what missiles should be provided to Ukraine, and which targets Kyiv’s forces would be permitted to strike with them.
The UK’s Storm Shadow missiles, which have proven very useful for Ukraine, were confirmed to have been used in a strike inside Russia in November.
Around the same time, the US, under President Joe Biden, gave Ukraine permission to use American missiles inside Russian territory.
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Germany’s previous chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was reluctant to send Germany‘s most advanced weapons, notably long-range Taurus cruise missiles, to Ukraine, but Mr Merz has suggested he would be open to changing this policy.
Mr Merz also said earlier this month that Germany would stop publishing details of military aid to Ukraine to achieve “strategic ambiguity” and prevent Russia from gaining any strategic advantages.
He is set to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday.
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During Monday’s forum, Mr Merz also addressed the war in Gaza, criticising Israel‘s new military offensive in the enclave.
He said that “what the Israeli army is now doing in Gaza – I don’t understand, to say it openly”.
“Harming the civilian population to the extent that has increasingly been the case in recent days can no longer be justified by a fight against the terrorism of Hamas,” Mr Merz added.
The German chancellor said he planned to call Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, this week to tell him “to not overdo it,” though for “historical reasons”, Germany would always be more guarded in its criticism than other European allies.
