The leader of Germany’s conservative Christian Democratic Party, Friedrich Merz, who is predicted to be elected the next German chancellor in May, has expressed support for providing long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine, provided that such actions are coordinated with European allies.
In an interview with German broadcaster ARD, Merz noted that Britain, France and the United States have already provided Ukraine with missiles. “Germany should be involved,” he said, adding that the Ukrainian army “should come out of defence-it is always only reactive.”
Merz also condemned the Russian strike on Sumy, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of a war crime.
Current German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly ruled out the possibility of providing long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine, opposing actions that would “deliver destructive weapons” deep inside Russia, and criticised his Conservative political rival who has expressed greater openness about delivering such weapons to Kiev.
In October, Merz told German media that he would approve the delivery of missiles, which have a range of about 500 kilometres, to Kiev under certain conditions. If Russian strikes on Ukraine “don’t stop, the first step is this: lift the range restrictions [on current missile launches from Ukraine]. And the second step would be to deliver Taurus,” he said.