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Germany is the second largest donor of military aid to Ukraine after the USA. But Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government is refusing to send a weapon that Kiev has been demanding since May last year: the Taurus cruise missile.
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Bulls have a range of up to 500 kilometers and can destroy even heavily armored objects. | Video: Taurus Systems
The missile is extremely effective against fortified and massive targets. It can penetrate even six meters thick concrete and has a range of 500 kilometers, meaning the aircraft carrying it does not have to enter enemy airspace. It flies at a height of 35 meters above the ground and is capable of evading anti-aircraft installations.
If the Ukrainian army got the Tauros, its chances of destroying or disabling the Crimean Bridge, an important link between the annexed peninsula and Russian territory for a long period of time, would increase significantly.
“If Germany were to supply Ukraine with these long-range missiles, it would be a significant change. If the Kerch Bridge collapsed, it would significantly limit the Russians’ ability to supply troops on the southern part of the front. They would. “We only have shipping through the Sea of Azov, and even that is vulnerable,” said security analyst Milan Mikulecký in an interview for Aktuálně.cz this week.
But Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he does not want the Crimean Bridge to be destroyed by German weapons because, in his opinion, this would lead to an escalation of the war by Russia. He recently again called on all Ukraine’s allies to supply weapons, but did not mention the Taurus.
“The arms deliveries to Ukraine that most EU member states are currently planning are too small. I therefore call on our allies in the European Union to increase their efforts on behalf of Ukraine,” said the Chancellor on Monday.
Domestic critics pointed out to him that Ukraine needed bulls. “It would help Ukraine enormously. Scholz’s call for more help is right, but Germany should apply it to itself. Then the Chancellor’s words would be more credible,” said opposition CDU leader Friedrich Merz to the Rheinische Post.
There are also calls for Taurus deliveries from the coalition of the Greens and the liberal FDP. They were joined by former Federal President Joachim Gauck, who enjoys great moral prestige in Germany as a dissident from the time of the communist dictatorship in the GDR. “Germany and Europe were not sufficiently prepared for the military threat from Russia,” said Gauck.
The otherwise well-informed website Politico wrote, citing sources in the federal government, that Berlin was afraid for another reason: if the Taurus did not explode and fall into the hands of the occupiers. In such a case, the Russians could research cutting-edge technology and then adapt their air defenses to eliminate these flat-trajectory missiles.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was asked at the conference in November why Germany was not sending bulls to Ukraine, even though the request had been on the table since May. He replied that this had to be carefully considered and that Germany also had to take its own interests into account. And then he added that the Tauruses would not significantly change the situation on the battlefield anyway.
The Bundeswehr has around six hundred of these rockets in its warehouses. However, not even half of them can be used immediately. The Swedish company Saab AB Dynamics was also involved in the development and production of Taurus, however, unlike the German army, the Swedish army is armed with them.
Video: “I wish we had a warm shower,” say Ukrainians in frozen trenches
“I wish we could take a warm shower at home.” Ukrainians wait in frozen trenches | Video: Reuters
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