West lifts restrictions on strikes on Russia - German Chancellor
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Germany, the UK, France and the US no longer restrict the use of long-range weapons transferred to Ukraine. This means that Ukrainian forces can officially strike military targets in Russia.
Here's What We Know
Merz announced the lifting of restrictions on the use of weapons in an interview with the German TV channel WDR. According to him, there are no longer any restrictions on the range of weapons supplied to Ukraine by the supplier countries.
"This means that Ukraine can now defend itself, for example, by striking at military positions in Russia. Until a certain point, it could not do this," the chancellor said.
Merz did not specify when exactly the four countries - Germany, the United Kingdom, France and the United States - decided to lift the restrictions.
As a reminder, similar information appeared on 17 November 2024. Le Figaro reported then that the French and British governments had allowed Ukrainian forces to launch SCALP/Storm Shadow cruise missiles at Russian territory. However, the very next day, the mention of this disappeared from the story. It is not known for certain whether this was confidential information or an editorial error.
Later, there were reports of the actual use of SCALP/Storm Shadow missiles against targets in Russia. In particular, on 18 December, the buildings of the Russian defence enterprise Kamensky Combine in Rostov Oblast were hit.
Source: Obozrevatel
