Germany, Ukraine reach deal for long-range weapons production

Germany has agreed a new €5 billion aid package for Ukraine and joint production of long-range weapons during Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Berlin.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that Berlin would seek to help Kyiv jointly develop new long-range weapons systems that can strike deeper inside Russia as Germany agreed on a new €5 billion aid package.

Heralding the beginning of a "new form of military industrial cooperation between our two countries," Merz said that Germany and Ukraine would seek to "enable joint production" of weapons. "This will be a cooperation on an industrial level, which can take place both in Ukraine and here in Germany," Merz said.

Following Merz's statement, the defence ministers of Ukraine and Germany signed a memorandum that also includes direct German investment in Ukraine's defence industry and a broader agreement between Ukraine and German arms manufacturers.

"This is the beginning of a new form of military-industrial cooperation between our countries, which has significant potential," Merz said at a joint press conference with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Berlin.

The German Defence Ministry said a "significant" number of these systems are expected to be manufactured by the end of 2025, with the first batch ready for deployment in the coming weeks.

Berlin also reiterated its commitment to supply Ukraine with more weapons and ammunitions, including air defence and artillery.

Merz declined to say whether Germany will supply its advanced Taurus long-range cruise missile to Ukraine, long a request by Kyiv and a step that Berlin has so far resisted.

Merz only said that he is not willing to comment on the issue and the sides "want to talk about production and we will not publicly discuss details."

Visiting Kyiv at the beginning of May, Merz said that all future arms supply talks with Ukraine would be kept confidential.

On Monday, Merz said that Ukraine's western allies are no longer imposing restrictions on the use of long-range weapons for Kyiv to use against Russian military targets.

Later, he sought to temper those comments by elaborating that the decision to lift restrictions had been made "months ago."

"In this respect, yesterday in Berlin, I described something that has been happening for months: namely, that Ukraine has the right to use the weapons it receives, even beyond its own borders, against military targets on Russian territory," Merz clarified.

Taurus missiles are similar in range and payload to the Scalp/Storm Shadow missiles which are supplied to Ukraine by France and the UK.

But the Taurus differs in that it can penetrate reinforced concrete walls and can be programmed to explode after hitting a target, which is why they are used against what the German Air Force refers to as "high-value targets."