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German chancellor Friedrich Merz says Berlin will help Ukraine produce long-range missiles, as Russia’s intensifying air and ground attacks drive Europe to ratchet up pressure on the Kremlin.
Speaking during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Berlin on Wednesday, Merz said the two countries would set up “joint projects” to produce long-range weapons able to strike military targets in Russia and Russian-controlled territory of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said the joint project would include “both systems and missiles”.
The initiative appears to fall short of Merz’s earlier commitment to delivering German Taurus long-range missiles, a move that his coalition partners, the Social Democrats, have opposed. But it deepens Germany’s involvement in Ukraine’s defence industry, with additional funding, potential production facilities, technology and staff transfers.
Germany would allocate about €5bn to the projects as well as to new ammunition deliveries and other aid, the defence ministry said.
“This is the first step towards joint production of long-range weapons in Ukraine,” Merz said. “This will be a co-operation on an industrial level.”
Zelenskyy’s official visit to Germany, the first since Merz took office earlier this month, comes as Europe is racing to increase pressure on Moscow. European leaders are striving to keep US President Donald Trump involved in Ukraine’s security as it braces for a summer Russian offensive.
After a call with Vladimir Putin, Trump signalled to European allies and Zelenskyy last week that he would let them settle between themselves the terms for ending the war. People familiar with the call said the US president made clear that he was not prepared to impose new sanctions on Russia.
But on Tuesday the US president warned the Russian leader he was “playing with fire” after Russia launched some of its biggest drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian territory including Kyiv since its full-scale invasion began in February 2022. He also suggested he might back a new wave of US economic sanctions against Russia.
Zelenskyy told reporters on Tuesday in Kyiv that he had discussed such sanctions with Trump at the Vatican earlier this month.
Merz earlier this week said he backed Ukraine long-range military strikes, departing from the policy of his predecessor Olaf Scholz, who refused to deliver Taurus missiles for fear of making Germany a party to the conflict.
France, the UK and the US already supply long-range weapons to Kyiv. But Ukraine has long asked Berlin — its second-largest supplier of military aid after the US — to provide Taurus missiles, which have an intelligent warhead system that can severely damage structures such as bridges and bunkers.
Before taking office Merz repeatedly said he favoured such deliveries. But since entering a coalition with the SPD, he has decided to stop disclosing weapons supplies — a stance in line with the “strategic ambiguity” approach of French President Emmanuel Macron.
“This is a very dangerous trend, an irresponsible position that Germany is taking,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Ukraine would require an additional $30bn in funding this year to scale up domestic military production to full capacity, particularly in drone manufacturing. Both Ukrainian and Russian forces are escalating their use of unmanned systems on the battlefield.
“We’re spending more than expected because both sides are advancing quickly,” Zelenskyy said on Tuesday.
A key priority in Berlin, he noted, would be securing funding for interceptor drones — a safer and more cost-effective means of defending against Russia’s suicide drones than relying on western-supplied air defence missiles and using fighter jets, including Ukraine’s fleet of Mirages and F-16s.
After his meeting with Merz, he said that the join investment projects agreed on Wednesday would include “weapons manufacturing in Ukraine, particularly in drone production”.
Ukraine has already begun deploying homegrown drone interceptors to neutralise Russian attack drones flying too high for mobile teams, Zelenskyy has said.
He warned on Russia’s own drone production push, saying Moscow was probably manufacturing between 300 and 350 daily, with a goal of reaching 500 per day. “I don’t think they’ve hit 1,000 per day but they may be stockpiling for wave attacks,” he said, referring to last weekend’s massive Russian air strikes.
Moscow pummelled Ukrainian cities and infrastructure with more than 1,000 drones and dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles over the weekend, killing at least 14 people and injuring scores more.
Kyiv has recently stepped up offensive drone operations of its own against Russian targets. Long-range drones operated by Ukraine’s security service struck a missile production plant about 130km north of Moscow overnight on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, a security official said.
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