The transfer of German Taurus missiles to Ukraine will not lead to escalation - Dmytro Kuleba

The minister emphasized that the transfer of long-range missiles by Germany will not lead to escalation.

First, because other partners have already delivered missiles with a similar range. Second, no previous German decision to supply Ukraine with a new type of weapon led to an escalation. On the contrary, German weapons have already saved many Ukrainian lives," Kuleba noted.

According to him, Ukraine needs Taurus missiles to save more lives of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, as well as to accelerate the liberation of territories.

Kuleba emphasized that Ukraine will not use missiles to attack Russian territory.

"We do not need a foreign country, and we will use missiles only within our borders to liberate what belongs to us according to the UN Charter and international law. The situation at the front is very difficult, the Russians had a lot of time to expand the lines of defense. We urgently require long-range missiles, such as Taurus, to hit Russian targets in Ukraine," the minister emphasized.

What is known about Taurus missiles

Taurus are German guided missiles with a range of up to 500 kilometers. They are an analogue of the British Storm Shadow, which are already successfully used by the Ukrainian military.

They are dropped by fighters and independently find their targets, can fly under radar. The Taurus is considered an effective weapon against protected targets such as command bunkers or ammunition depots.

What is known about the transfer of Taurus missiles to Ukraine

At the end of May 2022, Ukraine asked the German government to provide Taurus cruise missiles with a range of up to 500 kilometers.

The corresponding appeal was made against the background of the decision of Britain and France to supply Ukraine with Storm Shadow and SCALP long-range missiles. However, the head of the German Ministry of Defense Boris Pistorius said that Germany is not ready to supply Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.

On August 7, a member of the Bundestag from the Social Democratic Party of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Andreas Schwartz, called for long-range Taurus cruise missiles to be provided to Ukraine.

The head of the defense committee of the German Bundestag, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, also opposed limiting the range of Taurus cruise missiles as a condition for their transfer to Ukraine