Press pool reporters were left frustrated Tuesday afternoon when during a State Department briefing the Trump admin spokesperson refused to comment on German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s announcement that the United States and European allies had lifted “absolutely” all restrictions on the range of arms sent to Ukraine.
State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said when pressed by reporters, “I’m not going to discuss that. I’m not going to confirm that.” The Kremlin has responded by saying the decision was potentially dangerous and runs counter to attempts at a settlement. Still, there’s been no confirmation from the governments named by Merz, especially the US. Here is how Russia’s RT presented the televised exchange:
German chancellor says US, UK and EU all gave Kiev permission to fire longer-range missiles at Russia Trump’s government sounding more and more like Biden’s…
And after President Trump threatened “really bad” things on Russia, expressing his worry that Putin has gone “crazy” – one prominent conservative pundit and Trump supporter had this to say:
Sorry, but if you want to destroy your base and watch your presidency go down in flames, start something with Russia. It's absolutely asinine.
Back in December, then president-elect Trump had rightly blasted Biden’s policy of constant escalation with Moscow, and specifically called out plans for increasing the range of missile systems shipped to Kiev:
Trump called the decision made by Biden last month “stupid.” He also expressed anger that his incoming administration was not consulted before Biden made the move. With the loosening of the restrictions, Biden gave Ukraine long-sought permission to use the Army Tactical Missile System provided by the U.S. to strike Russian positions hundreds miles from its border.
Germany is very openly stepping up its support to Ukraine, following a weekend of serious escalation in airstrikes on Kiev by Russia, which says this has been retaliation for hundreds of drones on its territory.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine will travel to visit Berlin on Wednesday in his first time there since Chancellor Friedrich Merz took office earlier this month. It was only on Monday that Merz announced that Germany, France, the UK and US have lifted prior restrictions on how far the weapons they supply to Ukraine can reach. But Washington has not given public confirmation of this.
Just ahead of hosting Zelensky, Merz has warned that the Western allies must settle in for a long war yet to come, at a moment US-backed peace efforts appear to be faltering. Leading European hawks have criticized President Trump’s push for peace all along.
“Wars typically end because of economic or military exhaustion on one side or on both sides and in this war we are obviously still far from reaching that [situation],” Merz said at a joint press conference with Finish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo in Turku, Finland
“So we may have to prepare for a longer duration,”Merz added. He articulated his view that Russia’s Putin is just using ceasefire talks to string the West along while he intensifies strikes against Ukraine.
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