Britain is backing Germany over letting Ukraine fire weapons deep into Russia to combat Vladimir Putin’s attacks, says No10.
Germany’s new Chancellor said on Monday that his country and other major allies are no longer imposing any range restrictions on weapons supplied to Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion.
Friedrich Merz stressed that “there are no longer any range restrictions for weapons that have been delivered to Ukraine - neither by the British, nor by the French, nor by us, and not by the Americans either”.
He added: “That means Ukraine can also defend itself by, for example, attacking military positions in Russia,.
“Until a while ago, it couldn’t. It can now.
“We call this `long-range fire’ in jargon, also supplying Ukraine with weapons that attack military targets in the hinterland.”
Mr Merz later clarified that he was talking about a decision taken months ago, rather than more recently.
Britain has since at least last autumn allowed Kyiv to fire UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles into Russia to thwart attacks by Putin’s military.
Downing Street backed Germany not putting restrictions on the use of its weapons.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We have always said it’s up to the government of Ukraine when it comes to operational decisions around its weapon systems.
“But the Prime Minister has always been clear that we would provide Ukraine with the support it needs for as long as is needed.
“We have long supported other countries providing long-range fires...”
Commenting on Mr Merz’s statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that a decision to lift range restrictions would be “quite dangerous” and “run contrary to our efforts to reach a political settlement.”
Germany has been the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States, with Britain leading the arming of Kyiv, first with anti-tank weapons, Challenger II tanks and Storm Shadow missiles.
Mr Merz’s government has been tightlipped on whether it will supply Taurus long-range cruise missiles, something his predecessor, Olaf Scholz, refused to do and Merz advocated for as opposition leader.
The new Berlin government has said it will no longer provide full details of the weapons it is supplying to Ukraine, unlike Mr Scholz’s administration, citing the need for “strategic ambiguity.”
Taurus missiles have a range of up to 500 kilometers (310 miles).
Meanwhile, Putin continued to defy Donald Trump as his troops seized four villages in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region to create a ‘buffer zone’ from Russia’s border, according to its governor Oleh Hryhorov.
Russia launched 60 drones against Ukraine in an overnight attack, a decrease from hundreds it launched during the weekend, Ukraine’s air force said on Tuesday.
The air force said that 43 drones had been neutralised, with 35 shot down and eight redirected by electronic warfare.
Russia had launched more than 900 against Ukraine over three nights, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
The air onslaught prompted Trump to denounce Putin as “crazy” and the US president again threatened sanctions.
But the Kremlin hit back, suggesting Trump was responding with “emotional overloading”.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that its air defence systems had downed 99 Ukrainian drones, including 56 over the Belgorod region, overnight.
