Bild: Ukrainian military needs 3 months of training for Taurus missiles
Ukrainian troops would need around three months to learn how to operate Germany's Taurus long-range missiles, Bild reported on Sept. 24, citing the weaponry's manufacturer MBDA.
The German government has so far refused to provide Kyiv with the much-desired missiles with a range of up to 500 kilometers, despite requests from both Ukraine and German lawmakers.
This hesitancy was criticized by lawmaker for the Free Democratic Party (FDP) Marcus Faber, who pointed out that Ukraine first sent the request for the missiles four months ago, a time that could have been used to complete the training.
According to Bild, any potential transfer of these missiles to Kyiv would be further delayed by the necessity to program their targeting on Ukrainian territory.
Since the German military is unlikely to send its own personnel for this task to Ukraine for political reasons, it makes speedy delivery of Taurus missiles even less likely, the outlet concluded.
Media reports emerged over the summer that Germany has been stalling the transfer of Taurus missiles out of fear they might be used to strike targets in Russian territory. However, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba assured the German government that the missiles would be used only within Ukraine's borders.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's office also said that Berlin is waiting for Washington's decision to provide Ukraine with its ATACMS missiles before greenlighting the transfer of Taurus.
Recent media reports however said that U.S. President Joe Biden promised a "small amount" of ATACMS missiles to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky during their meeting in Washington.
This would make ATACMS the latest addition to Ukraine's long-range missiles arsenal, also including British Storm Shadow and French SCALP.
Berlin has not categorically refused to provide its own long-range missiles. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told Le Monde on Sept. 21 that the German government is currently "examining the request and its consequences."
Dinara Khalilova
