Germany mulls sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine

For the first time, a member of German Chancellor Olaf Sholtz’s ruling party has demanded that Berlin send Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine. In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel, Social Democrats (SDP) lawmaker Andreas Schwarz suggested that his nation supply Ukraine Taurus cruise missiles, an air-launched weapon with a 500-kilometer range, to aid its ailing counteroffensive.

As Ukrainian military forces prepared to begin the eagerly anticipated counteroffensive against Russian troops, which started the next month, Ukraine first asked Germany for Taurus missiles in May. By killing Ukrainian tanks and other armoured vehicles, extensive Russian mining of the battlefield has slowed down the counteroffensive and compelled Kyiv to alter its tactics. The Ukrainian military is currently concentrating on weakening Russia’s fighting capability by targeting ammunition stockpiles and command-and-control centres. Taurus missiles have the range to demolish bunkers buried deep below in addition to hitting such valuable targets far from the front lines. UK-supplied Storm Shadow long-range missiles are now in use by Ukraine. The US has yet to provide Ukraine with its ATACMS long-range missiles out of concern that Kiev would use them to attack military targets within Russia.