{"id":22937,"date":"2025-04-15T20:44:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T20:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/22937\/"},"modified":"2025-04-15T20:44:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T20:44:09","slug":"germany-set-to-finally-follow-in-uks-footsteps-and-vladimir-putin-wont-be-happy-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/22937\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany set to finally follow in UK’s footsteps – and Vladimir Putin won’t be happy | World | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Germany<\/a>\u2019s new chancellor-in-waiting has indicated he is willing to give Ukraine<\/a> long-range missiles capable of striking Russian targets in Crimea<\/a>. Friedrich Merz<\/a> emphasised the need for Kyiv to turn the war from a reactive one to a proactive one, saying it must \u201cshape events” to “get ahead of the situation.\u201d But the idea is likely to anger US President Donald Trump<\/a>, who vowed to broker a peace treaty in Ukraine<\/a> and needs to achieve a quick settlement.<\/p>\n

The idea of giving Ukraine<\/a> Taurus long-range missiles was repeatedly blocked by outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz for fear that it would escalate matters. Crucially, the missile – which boasts a range of 300 miles – will be able to strike the 12-mile Kerch Bridge, built by Russian forces after they seized Crimea in 2014 and a vital supply route for troops, supplies and equipment.<\/p>\n

“If things continue as they are – if, for example, the most important land connection between Russia<\/a> and Crimea is destroyed, or if something happens on Crimea itself, where most of the Russian military logistics are located – then that would be an opportunity to bring this country strategically back into the picture finally,” Merz told a German broadcaster.<\/p>\n

Ukraine<\/a> already has long-range missiles, including ATACMS supplied by Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden<\/a>, Storm Shadow provided by the Briton, and their French equivalent, SCALP.<\/p>\n

Besides its range, Taurus, which was co-developed with Sweden, also possesses an intelligent warhead system that can inflict huge damage to structures such as bridges and bunkers.<\/p>\n

Both Washington and London eventually allowed Kyiv to use their systems to strike targets within Russian-occupied territory, including Crimea, and the bridge has been targeted by Ukraine<\/a> many times, suffering heavy damage in strikes in October 2022 and July 2023.<\/p>\n

Losing control of occupied Crimea has long been considered a “red line” for Putin.<\/p>\n

Late last year, the Biden administration and the UK also allowed strikes with long-range missiles against military targets on Russian soil, particularly border regions of Kursk and Bryansk.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur European partners are already supplying cruise missiles,” Merz said, adding \u201dIf it is coordinated, then Germany should participate in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He condemned Russia<\/a>\u2019s Sunday attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy, which killed at least 34 civilians<\/a> and injured more than 100, calling it “a deliberate and intentional serious war crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he warned that Moscow interprets calls for peace as a sign of weakness, adding: \u201cI say to all those in Germany who naively call on (Russian President Vladimir) Putin to come to the negotiating table \u2013 this is the answer – that\u2019s what Putin does to those who talk to him about a ceasefire.<\/p>\n

“He obviously interprets our willingness to talk not as a serious offer to facilitate peace but as weakness,” he said, referring to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban\u2019s visit to Moscow last year, which was followed days later by a missile strike on a children’s hospital in Kyiv.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s decision for the US to resume direct talks with Moscow has pierced the bubble of isolation imposed on the Russian leader following its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, efforts to broker a peace deal seem to have stalled, after Putin rejected a proposal by Washington and Kyiv for a full 30-day truce and continued in deadly attacks against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure despite a partial ceasefire agreed upon on March 25.<\/p>\n

\u200bMerz added: \u201cAt some point, [Putin] must recognise the hopelessness of this war, which means we have to help Ukraine<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Germany\u2019s new chancellor-in-waiting has indicated he is willing to give Ukraine long-range missiles capable of striking Russian targets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[14543,2000,299,1824,14544,657],"class_list":{"0":"post-22937","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-crimea","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-germany","12":"tag-long-range-missiles","13":"tag-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114343933712186746","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}