U.K. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps on May 19 urged Berlin and other allies to send long-range missiles to Ukraine and to allow Kyiv to hit facilities in Russian-occupied Crimea.
Ukraine has received other long-range missiles, such as the Storm Shadow from the U.K. and the French-made SCALP, and it was reported on April 25 that the U.S. had secretly sent more than 100 long-range ATACMS missiles to Kyiv.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is against sending long-range missiles to Ukraine as he fears that this will risk Berlin getting involved in the war, according to Bild's unnamed German and Ukrainian sources.
"What I would like to see are all of our partners, including Germany, who do have the facility to provide those long-range weapons but do not allow them to be used in Crimea, which is part of Ukraine," Shapps said in an interview with Sky News.
"I think those are the things that would need to happen first."
Taurus is a joint German-Swedish-made cruise missile with a range of over 500 kilometers. The Storm Shadow and SCALP missiles Ukraine currently has, as well as the newer models of ATACMS, fly up to 300 kilometers.
They are also designed to hit buried and protected targets.
These advantages would allow Kyiv to hit targets deeper inside occupied Ukraine, including the Crimean Bridge, a critical supply and transport route for Russian forces.
But their increased range would also allow strikes deep inside Russian territory, a scenario Berlin does not support.
Kateryna Denisova
(Updated: )
