Berlin has pledged over $5 billion in new aid to Kyiv in its war against Russia.
Germany has pledged to support Ukraine in its war against Russia with a new, $5.7 billion aid package and an agreement to help Kyiv develop its own long-range missile systems free of any Western-imposed limitations on their use.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Berlin on May 28, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz heralded the onset of a “new form of military industrial cooperation between our two countries” that would include the joint production of missiles at existing plants in Ukraine that have the technical expertise to produce such weapons.
“Ukraine will be able to fully defend itself, including against military targets outside its own territory” with its own missiles, Merz said at the press conference.
“We want to enable Ukraine to counter Russian aggression. To that end, we are financing a considerable part of Ukraine’s Starlink coverage. We will jointly produce long-range weapons systems made in Ukraine. There will be no range restrictions,” Merz further clarified in a statement on X.
After Merz’s remarks, the defense ministers of Ukraine and Germany signed a memorandum covering direct German investment in Ukraine’s defense sector and a wider partnership with German arms makers.
Zelenskyy praised the move, noting that much of the joint investment will be in battle drone production, which he said in a statement on social media is “crucial for saving the lives of our soldiers.”
“Thanks to Germany, we now have new agreements, for both systems and missiles,” he said. “This kind of support strips Russian terror of its meaning. And likewise, when we talk about new weapons support for our army, about greater range for our forces, we are talking about how to make Russia’s offensive actions meaningless.”
Some Western-supplied weapons to Ukraine have come with limits on their use—especially on striking targets deep inside Russia—due to concerns that such attacks could provoke Kremlin retaliation and drag NATO into the war.
Ukraine has long sought an end to such restrictions, saying that it should be allowed to strike Russian military targets beyond the front lines, such as ammunition depots, airfields, and command centers used to launch attacks on Ukrainian cities.
Besides military cooperation, Ukraine and Germany also signed new agreements on joint construction and industrial development more broadly, Zelenskyy said, adding that both sides agreed to relaunch high-level dialogue between the two countries to deliver results that are “truly substantial.
By Tom Ozimek
