BERLIN, August 3. /TASS/. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has reiterated his stance in opposition to deliveries of Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine.
"We are still of the opinion that right now this is not our top priority," Pistorius told journalists in Bad Reichenhall, Bavaria. That said, he added that there are obvious concerns about handing over the missiles. "We are not the only ones not delivering. Our American allies are not supplying these cruise missiles either. Ours have a special range," the top military official said.
However, Pistorius did not rule out that in the future, Germany might supply the needed weapons to the Kiev regime. "The time for us to make a decision has not yet come," he noted. According to the defense minister, Germany’s main priority and expertise are in air defense, training, and engineering and armored hardware. "For this reason, currently, we do not see the need to make urgent decisions on other issues," he concluded.
In late May, Ukraine asked Berlin for Taurus missiles, which have a range of up to 500 km. Sources told the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky had discussed the issue with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin in mid-May. According to them, the Kiev regime sought to "get the missiles as soon as possible." Parties comprising Germany’s ruling coalition have differing opinions on supplying Ukraine with cruise missiles.
A decade ago, around 600 Taurus missiles were purchased for the Bundeswehr, of which some 150 were ready for use. The weapon is similar to the UK’s Storm Shadow missiles which have already been supplied to Ukraine, however, the Swedish-German weapons have a slightly greater range.