Boris Pistorius, the German defence minister, said on Thursday that providing Ukraine with long-range Taurus missiles was “not a top priority” at the moment.
Germany rules out long-range missiles: Germany was requested by Ukraine to give it Taurus air-to-surface cruise missiles with a range of more than 500 kilometres (310 miles) in late May, but the government has so far denied the request.
When speaking to a mountain infantry brigade in Bavaria, Pistorius stated, “We continue to believe that this is not our top priority at this time.
According to Pistorius, the problems with deploying “special range” missiles in Ukraine “are obvious.”
“Neither are our American allies delivering these cruise missiles,” he continued.
behind some initial hesitancy, Germany dramatically increased its support for Ukraine and is today, behind the United States, the second-largest provider of military aid to Kiev.
Berlin, like Washington, is averse to supplying Kiev with weapons that may penetrate nuclear-armed Russia and thereby escalate the confrontation when Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Pistorius emphasised that Germany was assisting Ukraine with “air defence, training support, engineering, and armoured vehicles” in a significant way.
The minister stated that the Swedish-German Taurus weapon system was not urgently in need of a decision, adding that it was “our first priority” and “our core competency.”
Last month, France made the announcement that it would join Britain in providing Ukraine with SCALP/Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of more than the 250 km.