BERLIN, March 18. /TASS/. The majority of German citizens are against supplying Taurus cruise missiles to Kiev, according to a poll conducted by the Forsa sociological service on behalf of the RTL and NTV TV channels.
According to the results of the survey, 64% of respondents believe that Germany should not ship any Taurus missiles to Ukraine. Only 30% were in favor of sending the weapons to Ukraine. In eastern Germany, some 69% of citizens oppose the transfer, while 15% supported it. In western Germany, a total of 63% voiced their opposition to supplying Taurus missiles, while 33% supported it.
The poll also indicated that 54% of the respondents think that Ukraine should make territorial concessions to achieve a peace settlement. Only 36% believe that the authorities of Kiev should not do that.
"The poll was conducted from March 14 to March 17. A total of 1,009 people took part in it.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly opposed the idea of supplying Kiev with Taurus cruise missiles, which have a range of around 500 km. The German head of government has stated that sending such weapons carries major escalation risks. Meanwhile, Friedrich Merz, the most likely successor to Scholz, has said many times that he supports the decision to supply the missiles to Kiev.
Kiev has long requested Taurus missiles from Berlin, which are regarded as equal to the British-made Storm Shadow missiles already supplied to Ukraine. However, the German-Swedish missiles have a longer range. Russian President Vladimir Putin noted at the Collective Security Treaty Organization summit on November 28 that Moscow has repeatedly warned that the use of Western long-range weapons against Russian territory would signify direct NATO involvement in the conflict.