Lower thirds:

00:02 Report by Alex Gerst
00:11 Kyiv - December 9, 2024
00:19 Friedrich Merz | then German opposition leader | December 9, 2024
00:50 Friedrich Merz | then German Opposition Leader | October 16, 2024
01:22 Friedrich Merz | German Chancellor | Source: Maybrit Illner, ZDF - May 15, 2025
02:00 Rafael Loss | Military Analyst

Script:

Germany's chancellor Friedrich Merz used to be very vocal about boosting certain types of military aid to Ukraine.

When visiting Kyiv last winter as opposition leader, he talked about helping Ukraine strike targets inside Russia. 

+++SOT Friedrich Merz, Opposition Leader//German Chancellor+++ Dec 9, 2024
We want Ukraine’s army to enable to reach military bases inside Russia. 
((Wir wollen ihre ((Ukraine’s)) Armee in die Lage versetzen, Militärbasen in Russland zu erreichen.)) 

He also called on the then-government to lift restrictions on the German weapons Kyiv had already received...as a way of forcing Russia to make concessions.  

If that didn’t work, he said, then other options should be considered. 

Including supplying Ukraine with long range missiles.

In Germany a controversial proposal. 

+++SOT Friedrich Merz, Opposition Leader//German Chancellor+++  Oct 16, 2024
And if Putin doesn't respond, he must be told that unless he stops bombing civilians within 24 hours, Taurus missiles will be delivered. 
((Und wenn Putin das nicht akzeptiert, dann muss der nächste Schritt folgen und ihm ((Putin)) gesagt werden, dass wenn er nicht innerhalb von 24 Stunden aufhört, die Zivilbevölkerung zu bombardieren, dann muss Taurus geliefert werden.)) 
+++  

And this was not the first time Merz had made such a call.

He'd previously pushed for a motion to have such weapons delivered to Ukraine immediately .

But now, as chancellor, Friedrich Merz is suddenly sounding more restrained 

+++SOT Friedrich Merz, German Chancellor +++ May 15, 2025
I already said last year that we actually shouldn’t debate the Taurus delivery in the first place. I had to debate it because there was open conflict within the then government. (…) Taurus is being hyped up almost as if it were just below the nuclear threshold.  But that’s wrong. 
((Ich habe schon im letzten Jahr gesagt, dass wir diese Diskussion ((über Tauruslieferung)) eigentlich nicht hätten führen sollen. Ich musste sie führen, weil es offenen Streit in der ((damaligen)) Regierung gab. (…) Der Taurus wird ein bisschen hochgejatzt wie kurz unter der nuklearen Schwelle. Das ist falsch.)) 

His government’s spokesperson has even sought to end public debate on the matter entirely. 

+++ Stefan Kornelius, Government Spokesman +++  May 19, 2025
The German government will no longer comment publicly on the details of arms deliveries. 
((Die Bundesregierung wird Details von Waffenlieferungen nicht mehr öffentlich kommentieren.)) 

In Germany, critics accuse Merz of making bold demands - only to abandon them just as quickly. 

+++Rafael Loss, Military Analyst+++ 
Already during the election campaign, we've heard the new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz flip flop on this issue a little bit. (...) he's also backtracked on some occasions most recently since his inauguration as Germany's chancellor. He's also called for Germany to be less transparent with its publication of military aid to Ukraine. Some could read this as maybe trying to shape the public discourse around this particular weapon system. 

As chancellor he now faces the reality that what counts is not rhetoric and words but deeds and action.