Germany has an “erotic relationship” with weapons systems, the country’s defence minister said, as Berlin considers sending long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine.

Boris Pistorius, Germany’s most popular politician, according to polls, said no other country had such “public debates” about sending specific weapons to Ukraine, including Britain and France, who agreed to send jointly made Storm Shadow missiles last year.

“I don’t know where this erotic relationship with weapons comes from,” Mr Pistorius said this week, as Friedrich Merz, Germany’s next chancellor, tried to convince the Social Democratic Party, his coalition partners, to agree to sending the weapons.

Responding to Mr Pistorius’s comments, Andrii Melnyk, the former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, said: “What’s wrong with eroticism? People love eroticism, not just the Germans.

“Please stop with this clown show. We’re not on the Reeperbahn (Hamburg’s red light district). There’s a war going on. And Ukraine needs Taurus like it needs air. Don’t let us suffocate.”