Germany\u2019s new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has told Ukraine\u2019s Volodymyr Zelensky that Berlin will help Kyiv produce long-range missiles to defend itself from Russian attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to talk about production and we will not publicly discuss details,\u201d he said, when asked by reporters in Berlin if Germany would supply Kyiv with its Taurus missiles.<\/p>\n
Merz took office earlier this month, promising to beef up German support for Ukraine, and said this week that there were \u201cno longer\u201d any range restrictions on weapons supplied by Kyiv\u2019s Western allies.<\/p>\n
The Taurus has a range of 500km (310 miles) and could reach deeper into Russian territory than other far-range missiles.<\/p>\n
Although Merz did not refer to the Taurus by name during his press conference with the Ukrainian leader, he did say a \u201cmemorandum of understanding\u201d on long-range missiles would be signed by the German and Ukrainian defence ministers later on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The Kremlin has warned that any decision to end range restrictions on the missiles that Ukraine can use would be a quite dangerous change in policy that would harm efforts to reach a political deal.<\/p>\n
However, Merz has since emphasised that a decision on lifting range restrictions was taken by Western allies months ago.<\/p>\n
The new chancellor is seeking to cut a far more assertive figure on support for Ukraine than his predecessor, Olaf Scholz.<\/p>\n
So far, he is succeeding.<\/p>\n
There may be many questions about the detail of Merz\u2019s missile co-operation plan but his willingness to make big announcements that might antagonise the Kremlin stands in stark contrast to the cautious tone of the last government.<\/p>\n
During his press conference with Zelensky, Merz promised Ukraine continued support for as long as necessary, warning Moscow that its refusal to take part in further peace talks would have \u201creal consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n
Zelensky has called for talks aimed at reaching a settlement on the war to involve three leaders \u2013 \u201cTrump-Putin-me\u201d \u2013 although he added he was ready for any format.<\/p>\n
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not dismiss the idea out of hand but said such a meeting could only take place after \u201cconcrete agreements\u201d had been reached between \u201cthe two delegations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Ukraine and Russia held their first direct talks for more than three years in Istanbul this month, the meeting involved low-level officials and they were only able to agree on a prisoner exchange, which took place last weekend.<\/p>\n
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested on Wednesday that a date for further talks would be announced in the \u201cvery near future\u201d, but made clear that Moscow was looking to guarantee Ukraine\u2019s \u201cneutral, non-aligned and non-nuclear status\u201d.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump indicated this week that his patience was wearing thin with Russia\u2019s failure to move forward with further talks.<\/p>\n
He accused Vladimir Putin of \u201cplaying with fire\u201d, after a deadly Russian missile strike that killed 13 Ukrainians, including children. However, Russian officials suggested that Trump was not sufficiently informed on the context of the conflict.<\/p>\n
Ukraine\u2019s president has urged Washington to impose sanctions on Russia\u2019s banking and energy sectors. He said he had discussed the issue with Trump, adding that the US president had \u201cconfirmed that if Russia does not stop, sanctions will be imposed\u201d.<\/p>\n
Despite the continued diplomatic manoeuvres, Ukraine\u2019s military reported one of its largest drone barrages on Russian targets to date overnight in to Wednesday, while Zelensky said Russia had launched more than 900 drones over a three-day period ending early on Monday morning.<\/p>\n
On the ground, Ukraine\u2019s defences have come under increased Russian attack in the northeast.<\/p>\n
Zelensky said Moscow was \u201camassing\u201d over 50,000 troops along the Sumy front, where Russian forces have seized several villages across the Ukrainian border in an effort to create what Putin calls \u201csecurity buffer zones\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sumy governor Oleh Hryhorov said Russian forces had seized four villages and that fighting was continuing near other settlements in the area.<\/p>\n
The war, now into its fourth year, has claimed tens of thousands of lives and left much of Ukraine\u2019s east and south in ruins. Moscow controls roughly one-fifth of the country\u2019s territory, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.<\/p>\n
Zelensky has accused Moscow of delaying the peace process and said they are yet to deliver a promised memorandum of peace terms following talks in Istanbul. Peskov insisted the document was in its \u201cfinal stages.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Germany\u2019s new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has told Ukraine\u2019s Volodymyr Zelensky that Berlin will help Kyiv produce long-range missiles to defend itself from Russian attack. \u201cWe want to talk about production and we will not publicly discuss details,\u201d he said, when asked by reporters in Berlin if Germany would supply Kyiv with its Taurus missiles. Merz […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}