A German Defense Ministry spokesperson confirmed that Ukraine has submitted a request asking Germany to supply long-range Taurus cruise missiles, Spiegel reported.
According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, President Volodymyr Zelensky had previously discussed this matter with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during his visit to Berlin in May.
On May 23, German MP of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Roderich Kiesewetter urged the government to provide Ukraine with long-range Taurus cruise missiles.
“Ukraine’s partners must now go ‘all-in’ and provide Ukraine with everything that Ukraine can use in combined arms combat and that is permissible under international law,” he said in an interview with RND.
“Taurus cruise missiles with a range of up to 400 to 500 kilometers would be a very helpful contribution from Germany,” he added. “There must be no more red lines here.”
According to Kiesewetter, out of 600 missiles purchased 10 years ago, Germany currently has around 150 operational ones.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius reacted cautiously to the proposal about delivering Taurus missiles to Ukraine but said he “believed that we should support Ukraine with all the systems permissible under international law that it takes to win this war and that we are able to provide.”
Earlier in May, the U.K. transferred Storm Shadow long-range missiles to Ukraine, becoming the first nation to supply Kyiv with weapons capable of reaching targets deep behind the front lines.
Ukraine promised the U.K. government to use them to strike targets in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
(Updated: )
