German politicians are calling for the immediate transfer of long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine. Bundestag member of the opposition Christian Democratic Union Roderich Kiesewetter pointed out that the Bundeswehr has 600 long-range missiles.
Source: Deutsche Welle
Mr Kiesewetter noted that the Bundeswehr has 600 Taurus in service, of which about 450 are not ready for use in combat but can be upgraded by MBDA and prepared for shipment to Ukraine.
An expert from the Free Democratic Party, which is part of the ruling coalition, also spoke in favour of Taurus supplies to Ukraine. FDP representative Markus Faber pointed to the Ukrainian military successful use of British Storm Shadow missiles. This demonstrates the importance of such missiles for Ukraine, he claimed.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Germany, Oleksiy Makeev, also called on Berlin to transfer Taurus to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The diplomat recalled the long debate in Germany over the supply of Leopard tanks to Ukraine and asked: “this time to shorten the discussion part and thus save lives”.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also appealed to Germany. He discussed this issue with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. However, Germany has not shared any decision or promise after the meeting.
However, the German Ministry of Defence confirmed its refusal to supply Ukraine with missiles. A spokeswoman for the ministry pointed the newspaper to a statement by the country’s Defence Minister, Boris Pistorius, who made it clear that there would be no Taurus supplies to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
TAURUS missiles are seen as an analogue of French-British Storm Shadow, which the Ukrainian Armed Forces already use to destroy Russian ammunition depots and supply lines deep in the rear.
TAURUS is a Swedish-German air-to-ground cruise missile. It is used for high-precision strikes and to hit highly defended targets at distances of up to 500 km. The Taurus missile is manufactured by Taurus Systems GmbH.
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