German Chancellor Olaf Scholz yesterday rejected Ukraine’s request for the delivery of long-range Taurus missiles, arguing that he cannot follow the example of France and the United Kingdom because “he would not be responsible”.
“It is a very long-range weapon, and what is being done in terms of target selection and supporting attacks by the British and French cannot be done in Germany,” Olaf Scholz told German news agency DPA .
For the head of the German Government, “it would not be responsible” to participate in the same way in the management of these missiles, he added. Warning of the risk of Germany finding itself “in some way directly involved” in the war.
“German soldiers must not, under any circumstances and in any place, be linked to the targets reached by these systems”, explained Olaf Scholz.
He further added that “what other countries do, which have other traditions and other constitutional institutions, is something that we cannot do to the same extent”.
German Taurus missiles have a range of more than 500 kilometers and could therefore, if Ukraine had access to them, hit targets well inside Russian territory.
For this reason, Berlin has refused over the last few months to supply this type of missiles to Ukraine, for fear that the conflict would extend to Russian territory, potentially leading to an escalation.
In contrast, the long-range Storm Shadow/Scalp missile, developed in parallel by the British and French, has been delivered to Ukraine.
Since May last year, Kiev has obtained these missiles with a range of 250 kilometers, delivered by France and the United Kingdom, as well as North American ATACMS missiles, with a range of 165 kilometers.
“What Ukraine lacks is ammunition for all possible distances”, but this “will not come decisively from Germany”, Olaf Scholz also pointed out.
In recent days, Ukrainian authorities have lamented the delays in deliveries of Western military aid, which forced the Kiev Army to withdraw from the city of Avdiivka (East), after four months of fighting.
Ukraine also announced yesterday that it abandoned a small village near Avdiivka, in the face of incessant pressure from Russia.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov declared on Sunday that half of the Western weapons promised to Kiev were delivered late.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lamented yesterday that Ukraine received only 30 percent of the millions of artillery shells promised by the European Union (EU) last year, after having mentioned last week.
Delays in weapons deliveries contributed to the failure of Ukraine’s major counteroffensive in the summer of 2023.
The EU committed last year to sending one million artillery shells to Ukraine to help the war effort against the Russian invasion, before the end of March 2024, before admitting that it would not be able to achieve this objective.