Instead of approving the delivery of the highly controversial Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine – a topic that has stirred much debate in Germany – the new German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, announced new financial and military cooperation between Berlin and Kyiv on Wednesday, May 28, during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the German capital. The two countries will jointly produce long-range missiles, capable of striking deep inside Russian territory. Later in the day, German and Ukrainian defense ministers announced the agreement.

"Ukraine will thus be able to defend itself, even against military targets outside its own territory," Merz explained Wednesday in Berlin during a joint press conference with Zelensky. "This is the beginning of a new form of military-industrial cooperation between our countries." Few details were provided about the specifics of the agreement, and that was partly intentional: Since Merz took office on May 6, the new doctrine in place at the chancellery has been to speak as little as possible in public about arms deliveries, both to maintain a degree of strategic ambiguity and to avoid fueling a complex political debate within Germany.

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