Germany and Ukraine’s other allies scrap range limits on arms sent to Kyiv

The German chancellor has said that Germany, along with Ukraine’s other main western supporters, will remove range restrictions on weapons delivered to Kyiv for the first time, to enable it to defend itself against Russia. Friedrich Merz said Germany, Britain, France and the US had lifted the restrictions to enable Ukraine to be better able to hit military targets on Russian territory. In opposition he had advocated for giving the missiles to Ukraine, which his predecessor, Olaf Scholz, had refused to do. Merz justified the change in policy of Germany and its allies, saying only by lifting the range restrictions was Ukraine in a position to be able to defend itself. Until now, Germany, the second biggest deliverer of weapons to Ukraine after the US, had not delivered any weapons to Ukraine that had a range beyond 70km (43 miles).