The Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, does not rule out the possibility of supplying Ukraine with long-range Taurus cruise missiles. In a live broadcast on a German television channel, he responded to questions regarding this prospect, emphasizing that this option remains open for the German government.
This is reported by Kyiv24
“Of course, it is within the realm of possibility,” said the head of the German government during the ZDF broadcast.
Training and Delivery Timelines
Merz stressed that for the effective use of Taurus cruise missiles, the Ukrainian military will require several months of training. According to him, delivering these missiles in six months or a year will not be able to assist Ukraine right now, so the German government aims to strengthen military support for Kyiv in the near future.
Changes in Germany’s Position on Arms for Ukraine
Former Chancellor Olaf Scholz repeatedly stated the refusal to supply Ukraine with long-range Taurus missiles and emphasized that Germany would not allow the Armed Forces of Ukraine to strike Russian territory and had no plans to transfer its own missiles. However, with Merz’s appointment as Chancellor in early May 2025, the position of the German government has become more flexible. He emphasized that Germany would do everything possible to continue supporting Ukraine, and on May 26, he announced that Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States had already lifted restrictions on the range of weapons being supplied to Ukraine.
On May 28, during an official visit by Volodymyr Zelensky to Berlin, Friedrich Merz announced at a joint press conference that Germany would finance the production of long-range missiles directly in Ukraine.
The reaction from the Kremlin and Russian officials to these decisions was predictably harsh. Dmitry Peskov described the actions of the German government as “further provocation of war” and claimed that it supposedly hinders the peace process. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in turn, stated that “Germany is sliding down the same slippery slope that it has already traversed a couple of times in the last century towards its downfall.”