BERLIN >> German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged Wednesday to help Ukraine develop its own long-range missile systems that would be free of any Western-imposed limitations on their use and targets as the Kyiv government fights to repel Russia’s invasion.

Some of the advanced weapon systems that allies have supplied to Ukraine during the 3-year war were subject to range and target restrictions — a fraught political issue stemming from fears that if the weapons struck deep inside Russia, the Kremlin might retaliate against the country that provided them and draw NATO into Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II.

Standing beside visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Merz said that under an intensified cooperation agreement, Germany “will strive to equip the Ukrainian army with all the capabilities that truly enable it to successfully defend the country,” including upgraded domestic missile production.

After the United States, Germany has been the biggest individual supplier of military aid to Ukraine.

“Ukraine will be able to fully defend itself, including against military targets outside its own territory” with its own missiles, Merz said at a joint news conference.

Peace talks invite

Hours after Merz’s pledge, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov publicly invited Ukraine to hold direct peace talks with Moscow in Istanbul on June 2.

In a video statement, he said that Russia would use the meeting to deliver a memorandum setting out Moscow’s position on “reliably overcoming the root causes of the crisis.” He also said any Russian delegation would again be headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky.

“We hope that all those who are sincerely interested in the success of the peace process in more than just words will support a new round of direct Russian-Ukrainian negotiations in Istanbul,” Lavrov said.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said his country isn’t opposed to such direct peace talks but it still hasn’t seen the memorandum promised by Russia and that further meetings would be “empty” without it.

“We call on them to fulfill that promise without delay and stop trying to turn the meeting into a destructive one,” Umerov wrote on X. He said he had handed such a document with the Ukrainian position to the Russian side.

Low-level delegations from Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks in three years in Istanbul on May 16. The talks, which lasted two hours, brought no significant breakthrough, although both sides agreed to the largest prisoner exchange of the war. It was carried out last weekend and freed 1,000 captives on each side.

More sanctions on hold

On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he’s holding off on new sanctions against Russia in order to preserve the chance for a deal with President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.

“If I think I’m close to getting a deal, I don’t want to screw it up by doing that,” Trump said Wednesday at the White House. “Let me tell you, I’m a lot tougher than the people you’re talking about.”

Asked by a reporter if Putin is interested in a peace deal, Trump said, “I can’t tell you that, but I’ll let you know in about two weeks.”

Trump has shown growing frustration with his Russian counterpart for days, threatening new sanctions after Moscow launched its largest drone barrage of the war.

The president has been facing pressure from European allies and Republicans in Congress to follow through with financial penalties on Russia.

“I’m very disappointed in what happened a couple of nights now where people were killed in the middle of what you would call a negotiation,” Trump said.

Kremlin reaction

Asked about Germany’s offer to fund long-range missile production in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that the move was an obstacle to reaching a peace agreement.

Both Merz and Zelenskyy criticized the Kremlin’s effective rejection of an unconditional ceasefire proposed by the U.S., which Kyiv accepted. Kyiv says Moscow has been slow to respond to proposals for a settlement.

In Berlin, Zelenskyy called for deeper defense cooperation across Europe and with Washington, stressing the need for long-range capabilities and sustained military funding to ensure Ukraine’s resilience.

He said the cooperation projects already exist. “We simply want (the missiles) to be produced in the quantity we need,” Zelenskyy told reporters.

Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said Russia is grateful to Trump for his mediation efforts.

Meanwhile, fighting has continued along the roughly 620-mile front line.

Both sides are continuing to conduct deep strikes. Russia launched its biggest drone attack of the war against Ukraine on Sunday.

This report contains information from Bloomberg News.