Scholz rejects Taurus delivery again

Ukraine keeps asking for Western long-range precision weapons and permission to use them on Russian territory. Chancellor Scholz, however, is sticking to his no to the Taurus.

In its efforts to acquire high-precision, long-range weapons, Kiev still cannot rely on Chancellor Olaf Scholz. At a citizens’ dialogue in Prenzlau, Brandenburg, the SPD politician ruled out the delivery of long-range precision weapons to Ukraine in the future, regardless of decisions made by the alliance partners.

Scholz reiterated his opposition to the delivery of the Taurus cruise missiles with a potential range from Ukraine to Moscow (about 500 kilometers) on the grounds that this would entail “a great risk of escalation.”

“I said no. And of course that also applies to other weapons, if we had delivered them, that could fire at that great distance,” said Scholz. “It will stay that way. (…) Even if other countries decide differently.”

Meanwhile, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked Scholz to reconsider his position. “We definitely need a Taurus delivery, definitely,” Johnson told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” at a security conference in Kiev. With a view to German history, he could understand Scholz, but it was now a matter of a clear position in a very crucial phase.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeatedly asks the allies for long-range weapons in order to be able to attack Russian logistics and air force military airfields far behind the front line, even on Russian territory.

In his evening video address, Zelensky reported on a meeting with US congressmen in Kyiv. “It is important that our partners at all levels are fully informed about our needs and our positions,” he said. During the talks, he informed the MPs “about the current situation and prospects.”

NATO partners the USA, Great Britain and France have already supplied Ukraine with cruise missiles with ranges of up to 300 kilometers. A discussion is currently underway about whether the use of these weapons against targets on Russian territory should be permitted in principle. US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer failed to reach a decision at a meeting in Washington on Friday.

Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin had previously stated that he would view the use of long-range Western precision weapons against targets deep on Russian territory as NATO’s involvement in the war. “This will mean that NATO countries, the USA, and European countries will fight with Russia.”

Following reports of the delivery of Iranian missiles to Russia, the economically strong western democracies of the G7 have strongly condemned the provision of these weapons. The fact that Tehran continues to supply Moscow with weapons despite repeated international calls to stop the deliveries represents a further escalation of Iran’s military support for the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, said a joint statement by the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Great Britain and the USA as well as the EU’s foreign policy representative.

Russia is using Iranian weapons to kill Ukrainian civilians and attack critical infrastructure, it was said. Britain and the USA recently announced that, according to their information, Russia had received ballistic missiles from Iran. The government in Tehran rejected the allegations.

“Iran must immediately cease all support for Russia’s illegal and unjustified war against Ukraine and stop the supply of ballistic missiles, drones and related technology that pose a direct threat to the Ukrainian people and to European and international security,” said the statement released by the Italian G7 presidency.