Efforts to bring peace to Ukraine just received a stifling blow. German Chancellor Fredrich Merz, with less than a month in office, has stepped forward to set back the US sponsored peace initiative.
Trump wants to bring Ukraine and Russia together for a peaceful settlement of the war. He is very focused on stopping the killing in Ukraine.
But now Merz has emerged with an initiative that seems counter to that. He apparently favors supplying German Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
The general notion of giving Ukraine long-range missiles has been one of great consternation for Russia.
In September 2024 Putin said he would regard Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied long-range missiles as initiating a direct fight between the supplying countries and Russia (BBC). Putin threatened dire consequences if that were to happen.
This rhetoric sounds reminiscent of President Kennedy’s threat during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In an address to the nation he warned, “It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.”
Actually, the United States, Great Britain, and France have already supplied long-range missiles to Ukraine: the American ATACMS and the UK/French Storm Shadow/SCALP. The supplying countries last year had authorized their use on targets in Russia. But the missiles had insufficient range to threaten Moscow. Russia has not sought to attack those countries in retaliation.
But the German Taurus missiles have sufficient range to hit smack dab in the middle of the Kremlin, the traditional embodiment of Russia’s center of power. That’s what makes them a new concern.
Before his election, Merz actually promoted a Ukraine peace plan of his own. It involved the Taurus missiles. In an interview with Stern he said, “If elected, I will issue an ultimatum to Putin to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours. If he does not agree, I will supply Ukraine with long-range Taurus missiles and give permission to strike on Russian territory.”
But on May 26, Ukrainska Pravda reported, “After assuming office, Merz changed his stance, stating that any decision on missiles would be made in coordination with allies.” He also indicated that he preferred not to discuss specific weapons systems for Ukraine publicly.
He now seems to have changed his stance again, though. Now he’s making headlines with his comments about a specific weapons system.
Why is Merz making statements that are widely inconsistent and don’t always comport with the truth?
Look at this example: On May 26 DW.com reported, “German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced on Monday that Germany, along with France, the UK and the US, had lifted restrictions on the range of weapons being sent to Ukraine to help in the fight against Russia.”
His reference to “restrictions on range” refers to the supplying country placing restrictions on how the missiles may be used in terms of range.
Merz makes it sound like these countries recently got together and made a joint decision on this, doesn’t it?
But that’s not true. The other countries already lifted range restrictions last year. They independently okayed Ukraine’s use of their long range missiles for attacks into Russia. There was no new agreement.
The international danger posed by the Merz statement showed itself in Russia’s knee-jerk reaction to his words. Putin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov unquestioningly believed Merz and called his statement a serious escalation. That doesn’t speak well for Peskov’s astuteness.
Thankfully, Germany’s Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil recognized the danger in Merz’s recklessly false statement. Klingbeil gave his own statement to the press saying plainly, “I would like to say that there is no new agreement that goes beyond what the previous government has done.”
On top of all that, Merz is now indeed talking about a specific weapon system, contrary to his stated preference not to do that.
Look at this May 28 AP report: “German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged Wednesday to help Ukraine develop its own long-range missile systems that would be free of any Western-imposed limitations on their use and targets as the Kyiv government fights to repel Russia’s invasion.”
What’s wrong with that statement? Well first of all, as shown above, the countries that have supplied long-range missiles already removed the “Western-imposed limitations on their use and targets.” Merz can’t remove them again. They’re gone.
Then there is the matter of Germany helping Ukraine to manufacture long-range missiles in Ukraine. Does Merz believe that by simply moving the manufacture of the missiles to Ukraine that Germany would escape Russian retaliation? I wouldn’t bet on that.
Merz told a news conference, “This is the beginning of a new form of military-industrial cooperation between Germany and Ukraine, which has great potential,” according to kp.ru on May 28. I’d say it has great potential for danger.
CBS News quoted Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov: “Germany is sliding down the same inclined plane along which it has already moved a couple of times in the last century — down to its collapse. I hope that responsible politicians in this country will still draw the right conclusion, stop the madness.”
That’s a thinly veiled oblique reference to Germany’s role in the last century’s two world wars. I’m surprised that Lavrov, usually a superb diplomat, would say that. It only serves to possibly inflame an already overheated situation.
Lavrov is right, though, that the Merz madness needs to be stopped.
Maybe President Trump could sanction Merz quickly, and stop his interference in the peace plan development.
Merz has already entertained Zelensky in Berlin. He may have pumped up Zelensky’s already over-inflated expectations for a clean military victory over Russia. How’s that going to play out if and when Zelensky enters in peace negotiations?
Trump got really mad at Putin when Russia attacked Kyiv on May 25-26. Reuters called it the “war’s largest air attack on Ukraine.” Tragically it killed around 12 people.
But that relatively low death toll in a massive and record-breaking attack is suggestive that it was not aimed at civilians. I’ve heard the target was a drone and missile production facility
In comparison, the potential civilian death toll that could eventuate from Merz’s continued activities could be almost unimaginable.
He’s putting a target on Berlin. Russia has the ready capability to hit the bullseye.
RT.com reported, “Russia would not rule out a direct strike on Berlin if German personnel help Ukraine target Moscow with German-supplied Taurus missiles.”
Bluster? Maybe. But think of the chain reaction that would set off.
Now’s the time for Trump to get really mad at Merz.
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