BERLIN, Aug 23German Chancellor Olaf Scholz carefully weighs every decision to supply weapons to Kyiv, and at the moment there is no new status on the discussion around Taurus cruise missiles, spokesman Wolfgang Buechner told reporters.
“You know the position of the chancellor on this issue. In recent days, he has repeatedly made it clear. He has repeatedly said that he weighs each of these decisions very, very carefully. As for the discussion about the Taurus cruise missiles, today I cannot report on which or new developments,» Buechner said at a press conference on Wednesday, responding to a media representative who asked why «the decision was delayed,» while on Monday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock, speaking about cruise missiles for Kiev, said that now every day counts.
Last Sunday, answering the question of citizens during the open doors of official departments in Berlin why Germany does not provide even more assistance to Ukraine and is delaying the decision on the supply of Taurus cruise missiles, Scholz said that his country provides significant support to Kiev, but does not want to, for the conflict in Ukraine to escalate into a NATO war with Russia.
The head of the Defense Committee of the German Parliament (Bundestag) Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann advocated the speedy delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.
The main point of contention for Taurus deliveries is the range of these missiles, which is 500 kilometers. Until now, Germany has fundamentally not supplied Kyiv with weapons with similar characteristics. The German expert community discussed whether the missiles could be programmed in such a way that they could not be used to strike at Russian territory. According to Spiegel, it is this question that interests Chancellor Scholz at the moment, and therefore negotiations are allegedly being held with representatives of the military industry.
Russia earlier sent a note to NATO countries due to the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation stated that the NATO countries are «playing with fire» by supplying weapons to Ukraine. The Kremlin stated that pumping Ukraine with weapons from the West does not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative effect. Lavrov also stated that the US and NATO are directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, including not only the supply of weapons, but also the training of personnel in the UK, Germany, Italy and other countries.