On 11 August, Tagesschau reported that the German government had “apparently given up its refusal to deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine” with a prerequisite for that being the restrictions to the targeting software of the missile to disable attacks on Russia.
Later that same day, a German government spokeswoman said there was no status to report on the Taurus supplies. Previously Germany denied such supplies despite repeated Ukrainian requests to deliver these cruise missiles to counter Russian aggression.
According to Spiegel information, however, talks are underway between the German government and the Taurus manufacturer. The report states that the country’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius asked the company to integrate a limitation for target programming into the cruise missiles as Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he wants to use technical modifications to rule out the possibility of Ukraine using the long-range weapons systems to carry out attacks on Russian territory.
Spiegel says the chancellor does not want to approve the Taurus delivery until he is convinced of the technical modification.
Meanwhile, defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann from the ruling coalition has spoken out against limiting the range of Taurus cruise missiles as a condition for their delivery.
Read also:
- German DM: Time to deliver Taurus cruise missiles has not yet come for us
- German politicians urge provision of long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine
- Germany may reconsider fighter jets for Ukraine but won’t send Taurus cruise missiles – minister
- Germany still “very cautious” about sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine, German Defense Minister says – Tagesspiegel
- Ukraine asks Germany to provide Taurus cruise missiles – Reuters