Merz clarifies his statement on long-range weapons restrictions for Ukraine

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has clarified his statement on allowing Ukraine to strike deep into Russia during a visit to Finland on Tuesday, noting that the US, the UK, France and Germany had lifted restrictions on Ukraine's long-range strikes against Russia several months ago.

"In this sense, I described yesterday in Berlin what has been happening for several months," Merz said, as quoted by Die Zeit, a German national weekly newspaper. 

Merz said that his statement about lifting the range limit on Ukraine's use of Western weapons referred to a decision made some time ago.

Merz said during a visit to the Finnish city of Turku that this topic "played a role a few months and a few years ago".

The German chancellor said that Ukraine should also have the right to use weapons against military targets in Russia.

Current Chancellor Friedrich Merz, leader of the conservative CDU party, stated on 26 May that there are no longer "any restrictions" on long-range strikes using weapons supplied to Ukraine by the UK, France, Germany and the US. 

German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil said that there had been no new agreements in the government coalition to change course on lifting restrictions on long-range strikes by Ukraine on Russian territory.

The only long-range German weapon that Ukraine is asking for from Germany is Taurus missiles.

In the past, Merz has expressed support for supplying Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, but he has made no comments regarding possible deliveries of these missiles to Kyiv since coming to power in early May.

Meanwhile, Merz’s government has decided to limit public information about which weapon systems it will supply to Ukraine.