Ukraine officially requests Taurus cruise missiles from Germany
Ukraine has officially asked Germany to supply Taurus cruise missiles, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reports. This could help change the course of the war against Russia. Although this could also be done by the delivery of F-16 fighter jets, which Ukraine is now receiving.
A request for the transfer of missiles from the Ukrainian side was received over the past few days, a spokeswoman for the German Ministry of Defense told Spiegel.
She did not provide any details about the letter, including how many units Kyiv is requesting.
A few days ago, defense expert Roderich Kiesewetter spoke in favor of supplying German Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. According to him, these missiles with a range of up to 500 kilometers will allow "to strike at Russian military infrastructure far beyond the front line."
The Bundeswehr has Taurus in service. About 600 missiles were purchased for the German armed forces ten years ago. Of these, "about 150" are still in service today.
Two insiders told reporters that Ukraine wants them badly. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy already told Chancellor Olaf Scholz about this during his visit to Berlin in early May. The chancellor's spokesman does not want to comment on this, but the Federal Ministry of Defense confirms that Ukraine has requested the Taurus.
On Tuesday, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius reacted cautiously to Kisevetter's proposal. However, he also said that he "believes that we should support Ukraine with all the systems authorized by international law that are necessary to win this war and that we can provide."
The Swedish-German TAURUS KEPD 350/150 air-launched cruise missile is a representative of air-to-ground missiles. Developed in 1994 by the joint efforts of specialists from the German company Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG (DASA) and the Swedish metallurgical concern Bofors, it was designed as an effective means of defeating highly protected objects and targets deep behind enemy lines. It is adapted to be dropped from military transport aircraft (e.g., C-130 Hercules or Airbus A400M).
If the Armed Forces of Ukraine receive long-range TAURUS KEPD 350 missiles, the Ukrainian army will be able to effectively hit key Russian military targets, including bridges, airfields, air defense facilities, bunkers, command posts, and places of concentration of manpower and equipment. This will accelerate Ukraine's victory in the Russian occupation war.