Western Allies Remove Weapon Range Limits in Ukraine Amid Escalating Conflict

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Western Allies Remove Weapon Range Limits in Ukraine Amid Escalating Conflict

 

A significant shift in the West’s approach to arming Ukraine has emerged, as the United States, Britain, France, and Germany are reportedly lifting all remaining range restrictions on weapons supplied to Kyiv. The move, confirmed by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, could drastically expand Ukraine’s ability to strike deep into Russian territory at a time of intensifying aerial assaults from Moscow.

 

 

“There are no longer any range limits on the weapons that have been delivered to Ukraine: not from the Britons, nor from the French, nor from us, and not from the Americans, either,” Merz announced during an event hosted by the German public broadcaster WDR. He emphasized that Ukraine would now be able to defend itself using “long-range fire.”

 

Though the statement has yet to be officially confirmed by Washington, it signals what would be a major strategic and symbolic decision by the Trump administration. For Ukraine, the policy change could allow the deployment of Western cruise missiles capable of hitting targets up to 200 miles inside Russia, removing previous limitations that confined attacks largely to border regions.

 

The development follows a weekend in which Russia unleashed its most intense drone strikes on Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. In a rare and sharply worded statement, President Donald Trump responded from Washington: “I’m not happy with what Putin is doing. He’s killing a lot of people, and I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin. I’ve known him a long time, always gotten along with him, but he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people and I don’t like it at all.”

 

French President Emmanuel Macron added that Trump had finally accepted the Russian leader’s duplicity. “President Trump realises that when President Putin said on the phone he was ready for peace, or told his envoys he was ready for peace, he lied,” Macron said during a trip to Vietnam. “We have seen once again in recent hours Donald Trump express his anger. A form of impatience. I simply hope now that this translates into action.”

 

The military implications of Merz’s announcement remain somewhat ambiguous, especially since Germany has not yet delivered its long-range Taurus cruise missiles, which have a range exceeding 300 miles, despite repeated requests from Kyiv. However, other Western nations have already begun to loosen such restrictions. The United States authorized the use of Atacms missiles in November, enabling Ukrainian forces to strike positions in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, where they have faced mounting pressure. Atacms missiles can reach targets about 180 miles away.

 

Britain and France, meanwhile, have supplied Ukraine with Storm Shadow and Scalp missiles. The UK was among the first to advocate for their use inside Russian territory, but had initially awaited approval from then-President Joe Biden. Once that approval came last autumn, Ukraine was permitted to deploy them in specific regions, although reports suggested usage was limited to areas near the border, such as Kursk. Storm Shadow missiles are capable of hitting targets over 155 miles away.

 

The Kremlin responded swiftly to the latest developments. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the lifting of restrictions as “quite dangerous,” warning that it undermined Russia’s stated desire for a peaceful resolution. In a more ominous tone, Russia had previously suggested that conventional missile strikes on its territory could lower its threshold for deploying nuclear weapons. NATO, however, maintains that it has seen no concrete signs that President Vladimir Putin is preparing to use nuclear arms.

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from The Times  2025-05-28

 

 

[Tug]

GOOD!

[daveAustin]

10 minutes ago, Social Media said:

The Kremlin responded swiftly to the latest developments. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the lifting of restrictions as “quite dangerous,” warning that it undermined Russia’s stated desire for a peaceful resolution

😂 Yeah good one. We’ve been down that road. You can do peace on Ukraine’s terms, you reprobates you. 

[spidermike007]

Fantastic. Time to start bombing Moscow and the Kremlin. And Putin's palaces. 

[FlorC]

Western Allies Remove Weapon Range Limits in Ukraine Amid Escalating Conflict

 

and by doing so , escalating it even more.

Putin will retaliate. Hope he has enough hypersonics to teach

the euro warmongers a lesson.

[thesetat]

5 hours ago, Tug said:

GOOD!

I agree... It is time to escalate and get WW3 started. 

 

5 hours ago, Social Media said:

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the lifting of restrictions as “quite dangerous,” warning that it undermined Russia’s stated desire for a peaceful resolution

The Russians sure have a funny way of showing they desire peace with their recent attacks escalating. 

[Tug]

59 minutes ago, thesetat said:

I agree... It is time to escalate and get WW3 started. 

 

The Russians sure have a funny way of showing they desire peace with their recent attacks escalating. 

The Ukrainians don’t want to start ww3 but I’d bet money they would like to hit equipment stockpiles troop concentrations and command and control deep within Russia TO PROTECT THEMSELVES from putins criminal invasion ehh??

[Eric Loh]

1 hour ago, thesetat said:

I agree... It is time to escalate and get WW3 started. 

 

The Russians sure have a funny way of showing they desire peace with their recent attacks escalating. 

WW3 already started in Ukraine. The only possibility for peace is to hit Russia into submission or economic annulation. We have seen enough of his repeated threats to escalate. Russia people has no will nor resources to fight an enlarged and protracted war. He will not get support from China. 

[harryviking]

xxx

[No Forwarding Address]

Really strange, weapons range limitations??  That’s like buying a car and the dealer telling you where you can drive it ……… boggles the mind.       Peace

[Hanaguma]

2 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

WW3 already started in Ukraine. The only possibility for peace is to hit Russia into submission or economic annulation. We have seen enough of his repeated threats to escalate. Russia people has no will nor resources to fight an enlarged and protracted war. He will not get support from China. 

The problem is that will all the sanctions, Europe won't sanction the one product that would actually hurt Russia- energy. LNG imports from Russia are higher than ever.  So forgive me if I am skeptical. Seems like Europe is willing to fight to the last Ukranian,as long as they can sell Ukraine weapons and buy gas from Russia.

[black tabby12345]

3 hours ago, FlorC said:

Western Allies Remove Weapon Range Limits in Ukraine Amid Escalating Conflict

 

and by doing so , escalating it even more.

Putin will retaliate. Hope he has enough hypersonics to teach

the euro warmongers a lesson.

 

Putin has been using long range weapon(including launched from within Russ) from the beginning of the  invasion Ukraine.

Whey not vice versa?
 

[black tabby12345]

That's the kind of decision the west should have made 3 years earlier.

 

[renaissanc]

I think that Putin won't use nuclear weapons because then he'll die too. The Russian Military, the Kremlin, and Putin's palaces will be destroyed, and his dream of being Putin the Great with an empire will have gone forever. I'd ignore his threats and destroy the Crimean Bridge for starters. 

[Jingthing]

2 minutes ago, renaissanc said:

I think that Putin won't use nuclear weapons because then he'll die too. The Russian Military, the Kremlin, and Putin's palaces will be destroyed, and his dream of being Putin the Great with an empire will have gone forever. I'd ignore his threats and destroy the Crimean Bridge for starters. 

Probably not, but as far as Putin the man is concerned, if he falls from power, he'll die too. So a better question is whether people will follow Putin's orders to launch, While I generally agree caving to Putin's nuke threats is folly, but the nukes are still real so can't be fully ignored either.

[Eric Loh]

43 minutes ago, Hanaguma said:

The problem is that will all the sanctions, Europe won't sanction the one product that would actually hurt Russia- energy. LNG imports from Russia are higher than ever.  So forgive me if I am skeptical. Seems like Europe is willing to fight to the last Ukranian,as long as they can sell Ukraine weapons and buy gas from Russia.

Europe has reduced gas imports from Russia from 44% to 19% since 2022. They have a blue print to totally eliminate gas import from Russia by 2027.  This much in line with their policies on energy security and de-carbonization. Europe will have to consider the energy shock to their economy and gas price if there is a sudden disruption to supply. 
 

[black tabby12345]

27 minutes ago, renaissanc said:

I think that Putin won't use nuclear weapons because then he'll die too. The Russian Military, the Kremlin, and Putin's palaces will be destroyed, and his dream of being Putin the Great with an empire will have gone forever. I'd ignore his threats and destroy the Crimean Bridge for starters. 

 

Can't wait to see that filthy monument of Crimea Invasion blows up SkyHigh into pieces.

[FlorC]

44 minutes ago, black tabby12345 said:

 

Putin has been using long range weapon(including launched from within Russ) from the beginning of the  invasion Ukraine.

Whey not vice versa?
 

Maybe because poking the bear that has the most nukes , isn't smart ?

[Purdey]

No one worried that Russia could nuke Ukraine. This sort of gives them an excuse.

[Lacessit]

The range limitation was always going to result in Ukraine fighting with one hand tied behind its back.

 

IMO Ukraine will be using long range weapons far more discriminately than Russia does.

[Tubulat]

1 hour ago, Hanaguma said:

The problem is that will all the sanctions, Europe won't sanction the one product that would actually hurt Russia- energy. LNG imports from Russia are higher than ever.  So forgive me if I am skeptical. Seems like Europe is willing to fight to the last Ukranian,as long as they can sell Ukraine weapons and buy gas from Russia.

As far as I understand, cargoes of LPG on many ships come from the USA, not Russia.

[BLMFem]

5 hours ago, FlorC said:

Western Allies Remove Weapon Range Limits in Ukraine Amid Escalating Conflict

 

and by doing so , escalating it even more.

Putin will retaliate. Hope he has enough hypersonics to teach

the euro warmongers a lesson.

"The euro warmongers". Not Putin, who started this atrocious war, but "the euros".

And up is down and left is right and one flew over the cuckoo's nest.

[BLMFem]

34 minutes ago, FlorC said:

Maybe because poking the bear that has the most nukes , isn't smart ?

Yes, let's all quickly bend over when Putin waves the nuclear sabre!

[RayC]

34 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Europe has reduced gas imports from Russia from 44% to 19% since 2022. They have a blue print to totally eliminate gas import from Russia by 2027.  This much in line with their policies on energy security and de-carbonization. Europe will have to consider the energy shock to their economy and gas price if there is a sudden disruption to supply. 
 

 

All no doubt true but I don't think that it negates the gist of @Hanaguma's point. 

 

Europe's move away from dependency on Russian gas only began in 2022. Putin invaded Crimea in 2014 and was supporting separatists in Donbass before that.

 

The EU should have acted much sooner.

[howerde]

3 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

WW3 already started in Ukraine. The only possibility for peace is to hit Russia into submission or economic annulation. We have seen enough of his repeated threats to escalate. Russia people has no will nor resources to fight an enlarged and protracted war. He will not get support from China. 

Nothing could be more wrong, China is the next target of the empire and they know it, they have no option but to stick together, i would be more worried about the wests economies they are not in a good position, the bond market shows you this

[pub2022]

You're all a bunch of raving lunatics.

[Eric Loh]

16 minutes ago, howerde said:

Nothing could be more wrong, China is the next target of the empire and they know it, they have no option but to stick together, i would be more worried about the wests economies they are not in a good position, the bond market shows you this

China is refraining themselves with direct military involvement. So far the support is mainly diplomatically and economically. Any direct involvement will jeopardize China’s economic interests and relations with the west. China is not interested in empire building and US will not invade China. 

 

[Eric Loh]

50 minutes ago, RayC said:

 

All no doubt true but I don't think that it negates the gist of @Hanaguma's point. 

 

Europe's move away from dependency on Russian gas only began in 2022. Putin invaded Crimea in 2014 and was supporting separatists in Donbass before that.

 

The EU should have acted much sooner.

There were sanctions on Russia for their invasion of Crimea. Not oil and gas. That will be like the nuclear option. There are economic as well as legal reasons. That’s my opinion 

[connda]

When the first Taurus hits a critical military site or Russian nuclear infrastructure - it's "Game On."

This is no doubt the outcome most Russia-hating Europeans are wishing for.  A MAD 2025!

[RayC]

20 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

There were sanctions on Russia for their invasion of Crimea. Not oil and gas. That will be like the nuclear option. There are economic as well as legal reasons. That’s my opinion 

 

Imo largely token measures e.g. banning of a dozen or so Russian nationals from the EU, etc. A much stronger response was needed. It was an invasion of a sovereign country with whom - but for Russian invention - the EU would have had a trade agreement. Too little was done by the EU at the time.

 

Imo at the very least, a plan - and serious intention - to move away from dependency on Russian energy supplies should have been implemented in 2014, not 2022.