Germany to help Ukraine produce long-range missiles

Germany has pledged to help Ukraine develop its own longrange missile systems that would be free of any Westernimposed limitations on range and target options, as the government in Kyiv fights to repel Russia’s invasion.

- ALASTAIR JAMIESON

Some of the advanced weapons systems that Ukraine’s Western partners have supplied during the more than three-year war were subject to range and target restrictions. The limits have been a fraught political issue, stemming from fears that if the weapons struck Russia, the Kremlin might retaliate against the country that provided them and suck Nato into Europe’s bloodiest conflict since the Second World War.

The missile pledge comes as Russia proposed holding a new round of direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on 2 June, as Moscow comes under pressure from US president Donald Trump to end the conflict.