BERLIN, August 10. /TASS/. The German government intends to announce "in the near future" the delivery of long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Kiev, the news portal t-online said with reference to sources in the ruling coalition.
According to the media resource, the office of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz is now working on the issue of transferring the missiles with its key allies, primarily with the United States. So far, the German authorities have rejected the possibility of providing Kiev with Taurus, the range of which reaches 500 kilometers. As t-online writes, Germany’s air force command has approved the delivery of the missiles. Last week, Scholz's office requested important information from the Defense Ministry about Taurus, in particular their stockpiles in the Bundeswehr, possible risks of supply and effectiveness.
The portal does not rule out that the German authorities may agree with the US on "double deliveries," that is, both Taurus missiles and US tactical missile systems ATACMS. Sources in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) told the portal that for Scholz coordinated action with the United States number one condition of supplying Kiev with new combat systems. Some in the chancellor's party do not believe Kiev's promises not to use the new weapons for strikes on Russian territory, the portal noted.
Among the reasons for the change in Berlin's position regarding Taurus disappointment with progress in the so-called Ukrainian counter-offensive is mentioned very often.
"We wanted something different, first of all for Ukraine," SPD Bundestag member Adis Ahmetovic told t-online. Military experts believe that due to the problems with the counteroffensive, the Ukrainian military command has begun to rely more on artillery shellings and strikes on Russian military logistics facilities. In their opinion, Taurus missiles will contribute to the success of this tactic.
Missile supply debate
Kiev in late May requested that Berlin provide Taurus missiles. Sources of newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung said that Zelensky had discussed such supplies with Scholz during a visit to Berlin on May 14.
Earlier, some politicians in the ruling coalition's Green Party, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), and the opposition Christian Democratic and Christian Social Union bloc stated the need to hand over the missiles to Kiev, but the Social Democrats were against it.
About 600 Taurus missiles were purchased for the Bundeswehr 10 years ago. Taurus are considered to be a counterpart of Britain’s Storm Shadow missiles, which have already been delivered to Ukraine. However, the range of the German-Swedish missiles is slightly greater. Russia has repeatedly emphasized that Western supplies of weaponry to Kiev and assistance in training Ukrainian military personnel merely serve to prolong the conflict but cannot change the situation on the ground.