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Germany is ready to send long -range rays of bulls to Ukraine, the country’s pending chancellor said, after emphasizing the need to place KyIw on the front leg and strengthen concessions from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Friedrich Merz, who is set to take office as the leader of Europe’s largest nation next month, denounced a Russian attack on Sumy’s Ukrainian city on Sunday as “a serious war crime” and said Kyiv needed help to “advance” in conflict.
Asked if he would follow a previous call for Germany to supply Ukraine with the Demi missiles that Kyiv has long sought, he said he would be ready to do so if he were to coordinate with European allies.
“Our European partners are already supplying cruise missiles,” he told public broadcaster Ard on Sunday at night. “The British are doing it, the French are doing it and the Americans are doing it anyway.”
He added: “This must have been jointly agreed. And if it is agreed, then Germany must participate.”
In a reference to US President Donald Trump’s efforts to make a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, Merz warned that Putin would not “respond positively to the weakness and offers of peace”.
He said the attack on Sumy, who left at least 34 dead civilians and 117 injured, was “what Putin made to those who talk to him about a ceasefire.”
He added: “At one point, (Putin) must know the hopelessness of this war, which means we must help Ukraine.”
The outgoing Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz has repeatedly rejected prayers from Kyiv and its allies to supply the Ukrainian armed forces with demo missiles, which have an intelligent chair system that can cause great damage to structures such as bridges and bunkers.
The 500km plus range of the Taurus system – built by a joint enterprise between the European manufacturer of Sweden’s Mbdda and Saab missiles – is longer than the shadows of the storm supplied by the British and French missile system and the missile army provided by the US, and would allow Ukrainian armed forces to hit the first line.
Scholz has said that the supply of Kyiv with Demi missiles would maintain “a great risk of escalation” in the Russian-Ukraine conflict.
Merz, leader of center -right Christian Democrats (CDU) who came first in the February Federal elections, criticized that attitude, calling Scholz last October to determine an ultimatum for Putin and promise to give weapons within 24 hours if he failed to stop attacks on civil infrastructure.
However, Merz returned to those comments during the election campaign, while Scholz tried to throw himself up as a “chancellor of peace” who would protect Germany from dragging on the Ukraine conflict. He also had to fight with an increase in surveys on the far -right alternative to Germany (AFD), which supports Détente with Moscow.
But on Sunday, Merz showed not only that he was ready to supply Demi missiles, but also suggested that they could be used to crack down on targets such as the Kerech Bridge that connects Russia with crimes, and is seen as a symbol of the occupation of the Peninsula Putin.
However, it is unclear whether the Merzi Coalition partners from the Social Democrats (SPD) will support the supply of demi missiles.
Party leader Lars Klingbeil last week promised to stay on the side of the “brave Ukrainians” while he and Merz announced a coalition agreement.
But Klingbeil must fight with a deep struggle regarding the Ukrainian conflict in parts of his parliamentary party, as well as among some SPD members – who will begin to vote this week whether or not to approve the coalition agreement.
