Media: Germany does not plan to supply Taurus missiles to Ukraine in the foreseeable future

The German government has made it clear that it has no plans to transfer Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine in the foreseeable future. writes Bild.

Berlin has not yet given an official refusal to Kyiv’s request, and the country’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz could theoretically postpone the supply issue to the future, but its implementation remains unlikely, the publication believes.

According to Bild, a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee took place last week, at which Scholz was asked why France and the UK are supplying cruise missiles, but Germany is not. To this, the Chancellor replied that London and Paris “can do what Berlin cannot.” The point is probably that the militaries of these two countries simultaneously provide geodata for missile guidance, and Britain also has its own personnel in Ukraine. In addition, Germany fears that the Ukrainian Armed Forces may use the Taurus to attack the Crimean Bridge.

At the same time, during negotiations with representatives of Kyiv, the German side stated that it wants to do everything possible to further strengthen Ukrainian air defense by allowing the supply of additional Patriot systems.

The fact that Ukraine has requested from Germany the supply of Taurus missiles with a flight range of up to 500 km became known at the end of May. As the media wrote, Berlin purchased about 600 Taurus ten years ago, of which only 150 missiles can now operate. Initially, the German authorities opposed the supply of such missiles to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

In August, Der Spiegel magazine reported that the German government was studying the possibility of supplying Taurus missiles to Ukraine in the coming months. According to the publication, Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to technically limit the programming of missiles in order to exclude the possibility of Ukrainian Armed Forces strikes on Russian territory.

The Russian Ambassador to Germany, Sergei Nechaev, said, in turn, that the supply of new weapons “only prolongs the conflict and increases the number of victims.” In mid-September, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Berlin could decide to hand over the Taurus in the coming weeks.

Now long-range missiles are officially supplied to Ukraine by two countries – Great Britain and France. We are talking about Storm Shadow missiles and their analogue SCALP-EG, both air-launched.