WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said today that his government and other major Western allies of Ukraine will no longer limit the permissible range of weapons they have delivered to Kiev, a move that Moscow immediately described as "quite dangerous".
"There are no more range restrictions for weapons delivered to Ukraine. Not by the British, not by the French, not by us, not by the Americans," Merz told German public broadcaster WDR in Berlin.
This means, he said, that Ukraine can now defend itself, for example by attacking Russian military positions, with certain exceptions, which it had not done before.
"It can do that now," said Merz, who took office at the beginning of May.
The chancellor did not clarify whether the lifting of range restrictions would also apply to weapons that Berlin will deliver to Ukraine in the future, in particular the long-range Taurus missile.
Under the previous government of Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, Germany, Ukraine's second-largest supplier of military equipment, had refused to deliver Taurus missiles, fearing an escalation of tensions with Russia.
Before becoming chancellor in early May, Merz had said he supported the delivery of these missiles, which have a range of more than 500 kilometers and can reach deep into Russian territory. Later, he was less explicit, saying that for strategic reasons, so as not to inform Moscow, he would no longer discuss in detail the weapons Germany would send to Ukraine.
Until now, Germany had supplied Ukraine with weapons with a range of up to about 70 kilometers.
Merz said Germany's allies would do everything in their power to continue to support Ukraine militarily.
The Kremlin described Merz's announcement that major Western allies would lift restrictions on the range of weapons supplied to Ukraine as "quite dangerous."
"If these decisions really happened, they are absolutely contrary to our aspirations to find a political solution (...) And therefore it is a rather dangerous decision," said Dmitry Peskov, the Russian president's spokesman, in a video broadcast by Russian media.
