LONDON, July 17. /TASS/. Kiev will soon receive long-range systems, including through joint manufacturing initiatives, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
"Of course, we discussed military support for Ukraine in detail. And it's not just about air defense, but also about Ukraine's ability to defend itself better, even with long-range systems. We call it long-range fire. Ukraine will soon receive further large-scale support in this direction. Including through the industrial cooperation that we have concluded with Ukraine," he said, but declined to elaborate.
"However, in the coming weeks and months, Ukraine will receive much more substantial support through such systems. I really hope that the American government, together with the US Congress, will make the decisions that Congress has been preparing for several weeks," Merz added, indicating that he is in close contact with several senators who have prepared this. "And we really hope that this will then lead to an appropriate decision by the American government."
Earlier, Merz and Starmer signed a treaty on friendship and cooperation. The British government said that under the deal London and Berlin, in part, will develop new missiles with a range of more than 2,000 kilometers in the next decade. They will also strengthen cooperation in combating illegal migration.
On July 12, head of the working group on the coordination of assistance to Ukraine at the German Defense Ministry Major General Christian Freuding said that Ukraine could receive the first long-range systems as part of the German-Ukrainian project by the end of July. Vladimir Zelensky signed an agreement on the production of long-range weapons in Ukraine during his visit to Berlin on May 28. In mid-June, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Zelensky in Kiev confirmed that Germany and Ukraine intend to start joint production of long-range combat systems, including drones and cruise missiles.
Germany is the second largest supplier of weapons to Ukraine after the United States: since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, it has provided Kiev with various kinds of assistance worth more than 40 billion euros. Russia has repeatedly noted that pumping up the Kiev regime with weapons only leads to a prolongation of the conflict.