Scholz against sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is opposed to delivering Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine for the time being, despite repeated pleas from Ukrainian leaders for the weapons, government sources confirmed to dpa on Thursday.

Sources indicated that Scholz is open to revisiting the issue at a later date but, for now, won't give his approval to equipping the Ukrainians with the German-made missiles.

Instead, Germany plans to continue focusing arms deliveries to Ukraine on artillery and air defence systems, sources told dpa.

The Bild newspaper reported on Wednesday that Germany had already informed Kiev of the decision.

Britain and France have already supplied Ukraine with their own jointly developed Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG cruise missiles, which have similar range and capability.

Ukraine began publicly asking Germany for Taurus missiles in May, saying the weapons are needed to strike Russian positions beyond the range of traditional artillery.

But the 500-kilometre range of Taurus missiles caused concerns in Berlin, where some officials fear that Ukraine could use the missiles to strike targets in Russian territory.

Scholz has repeatedly expressed scepticism about providing Ukraine with Taurus missiles.

But leaders of the Greens and the Free Democrats (FDP), Scholz's junior coalition partners, had both spoken in favour of sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine.

According to some reports, Scholz had sought to link Germany's decision on Taurus missiles with a decision by the United States on whether to deliver ground-launched ATACMS missiles, which have a similar range.

The Washington Post and NBC News reported on September 22 that President Joe Biden had told Zelensky that the US would provide a small number of ATACMS to Ukraine, but a spokeswoman for the White House said she has "nothing to report" about such a plan.

She added that the government had said in the past that sending the ATACMS was not off the table.

The lack of a US agreement so far to send the missiles, despite repeated Ukraine requests, is something that may have confirmed Scholz's reported decision.

The Bild newspaper reported that Scholz informed the German parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee of his decision last week. According to the newspaper, Scholz said that the British and French control Ukraine's use of cruise missiles by providing geospatial data for targeting themselves - something that Scholz said "we are not allowed to do."

He suggested that sending German military service members into Ukraine to oversee Taurus targeting would cross a red line for Germany.

In addition, German government officials reportedly expressed concern that Taurus cruise missiles could be used to strike the Kerch Bridge, which connects the Russian mainland with the occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which was seized by Russia in 2014.

On Wednesday evening, a government spokeswoman only stated in response to the reports: "There is no new state of affairs to report on the question of Taurus cruise missiles."

Sources told dpa that the German government is unlikely to ever publicly announce a decision to deny particular weapons to Ukraine, since such an announcement could play into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin and suggest a weakening of Western support for Ukraine.

Several German politicians sharply criticized Scholz's handling of the Taurus missile question on Thursday.

Green Party politician Anton Hofreiter told public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that refusing to supply the missiles sends a "devastating signal" to Moscow, and that Germany's lack of resolve and tough discussions about weapons systems only strengthened Moscow's belief that it could win the war in the long run.

The centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) opposition bloc also reiterated its demand that Germany send Taurus missiles to Ukraine.

"By cancelling the Taurus delivery, Scholz is confirming Germany's total failure as a self-proclaimed leading nation for European security and is upsetting our partners like Great Britain and France, who are already supplying cruise missiles," CDU foreign policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter told Bild.