MOSCOW, February 25. /TASS/. Ukraine has neither planes capable of carrying German-made Taurus air-to-surface missiles nor ground infrastructure to service such weapons, a Ukrainian expert said.
"They (Taurus missiles - TASS) must be fired from something. Regrettably, they cannot be swiftly adapted to the launchers Ukraine has," Ivan Timochko, chairman of the Union of the Ukrainian Army’s Land Troops Reservists, said in an interview with the Rada television channel.
According to the expert, such missiles can be fired from Swedish Grispen fighter jets but it will take time to train Ukrainian pilots and ground services even if such aircraft are supplied to Ukraine.
Ukraine has long been asking Germany to supply Taurus missiles. On February 22, Bundestag, or German parliament, supported a resolution calling for supplies of long-range weapons to Kiev, although not mentioning Taurus by name. According to experts, this trick gives Chancellor Olaf Scholz room for action on the matter of arms supplies. Scholz, however, is against sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine. Some experts say that the resolution may involve MARS II projectiles.
In October 2023, Scholz made a decision not to send Taurus missiles to Kiev. He repeatedly said that weapons supplies to Ukraine were agreed with the partners. In his words, Germany’s priority is too supply Kiev with air defense systems and artillery rounds.
Taurus are seen as an analogue with British Strom Shadow missile, which have already been transferred to Ukraine, but have a longer range - up to 500 kilometers.