Did Berlin's long-range weapons move on 26 May 2025 change the debate?
A look back at the announcement by Germany's chancellor, made a day after Russia's largest air attack on Ukraine of the war.
What did allies decide after a weekend of heavy strikes? On 26 May 2025, German chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that Germany and several other NATO allies had lifted all restrictions on Ukraine using long-range weaponry inside Russia.
The announcement followed days of intense Russian attacks. On 24 May 2025, Russia fired two ballistic missiles at the seaport in Odesa for the second time in 24 hours, killing two people and injuring seven. A nighttime drone and missile attack the same day injured fifteen civilians.
Then, on 25 May 2025, Russian forces launched their largest air attack on Ukraine since the start of the war, including on Kyiv. At least 14 people were killed and dozens wounded. At least 298 Iranian Shahed drones and 69 missiles were launched at Ukrainian cities overnight.
The Kremlin responded quickly. Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said the decision ran contrary to efforts to reach a political settlement to end the war.
The sequence is clear from the reports of the time: a weekend of strikes on Odesa and Kyiv, followed by a public decision from Berlin and its partners, and an immediate rebuke from Moscow. The reports of 26 May 2025 did not detail which weapons or which partners were covered beyond Germany and several other NATO allies.
