Taurus cruise missiles: Weapons Germany may very well be sending Ukraine to strike deep into Russia | EUROtoday

Germany may ship its long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine this yr, chancellor Friedrich Merz has mentioned, a transfer which might assist Kyiv strike deep into Russian territory.

Berlin pledged to ramp up its army help for Ukraine throughout a gathering between Mr Merz and Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, by which the previous promised new army help price €5 billion (£4.2 billion).

Mr Merz didn’t point out Taurus missiles as he introduced a rise in help for Kyiv – however he later addressed the problem when talking on German TV.

“Of course, it is within the realms of possibility,” the new chancellor told TV channel ZDF when asked if Germany would supply the weapons, adding that it would require several months of training for Ukrainian troops.

If Taurus missiles were sent, it would mark a major change in policy for Germany, which under former chancellor Olaf Scholz had been adamant it would not send the weaponry to Ukraine.

Military support for Kyiv is being improved in the short term, the German chancellor added, given Taurus missiles would not be ready for immediate use.

Germany has pledged to bankroll Ukraine making its own long-range missile systems. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, range and target limits on weapons sent to Kyiv have been debated intensely between – and within – Ukraine’s closest allies, amid fears of Russian retaliation.

“Ukraine will be able to fully defend itself, including against military targets outside its own territory,” Mr Merz said during a joint news conference.

In response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the news as a “very dangerous trend, an irresponsible position that Germany is taking”.

What are Taurus missiles and what can they do?

Equipped with stealth technology that makes them less visible to detection, the missiles have a range of up to 310 miles, which would help Ukraine to put pressure on Russia in the Black Sea and elsewhere.

The German and Swedish-made missiles would be able to reach targets deep in Russia from Ukrainian soil. Taurus is shorthand for Target Adaptive Unitary and dispenser Robotic Ubiquity System.

Ukraine has been asking Germany for the missiles to complement the long-range Storm Shadow missiles sent by Britain and France’s nearly identical Scalp cruise missiles. The German missiles have a longer range.

The UK announced in the spring of 2023 that it was sending Storm Shadows, which have a range of more than155 miles and give Ukraine capacity to strike well behind the front lines, including in Russia-occupied Crimea. In July 2024, Sir Keir Starmer announced the UK would allow Ukraine to fire the missiles into Russia – which it had previously not been permitted to do. Ukraine was reported to have used the missile for the first time in November.

France followed Britain by sending its Scalp missiles, giving assurances that they would not be capable of hitting Russian soil.

What is Germany’s position?

Germany is the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States and is further stepping up support this year. But former chancellor Olaf Scholz had previously refused to send the Taurus missiles, saying it would pose a risk of his country becoming directly involved in the war.

“German soldiers must at no point and in no place be linked to targets this system reaches,” he said.

At the time, some members of the conservative opposition, and even some in his socially liberal three-party coalition, wanted to send the missiles to Ukraine. But in March 2024, a survey found that 61 per cent of Germans disapproved of Taurus deliveries.

As properly as issues concerning Russian retaliation, for army strategists, there are different issues.

Gustav Gressel, a senior coverage fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in a observe final yr that whereas the UK and France had been already growing successors to their Storm Shadows and Scalps, Germany didn’t have but have a successor to the Taurus.

Germans concern that their shares of Taurus missiles may very well be depleted, he argued, and that “Russians would see the missile in operation in Ukraine and gain insights into the missile’s countermeasures and stealth characteristics.”

But Friedrich Merz, who has served as chancellor since early May 2025, has been extra prepared to ramp up army help for Ukraine than his predecessor – and could also be set to ship Taurus missiles eastwards.

The Taurus wiretapping case

On 1 March 2024, Vladimir Putin’s state media leaked an audio recording of German army officers discussing the hypothetical use of Taurus long-range missiles in Ukraine.

The 38-minute recording was printed by Margarita Simonyan, chief editor of Russian state-funded tv channel RT, on social media, the identical day that Alexei Navalny was laid to relaxation in Moscow after his unexplained dying two weeks earlier in an Arctic penal colony. It surfaced simply weeks earlier than Russia’s presidential election.

In the audio, the pinnacle of Germany’s air pressure, Ingo Gerhartz, might be heard discussing deployment situations for Taurus missiles in Ukraine with three colleagues forward of a gathering with defence minister Boris Pistorius.

The dialog was by no means meant to be public, and the leak embarrassed Germany and raised issues about safety. Furious with Germany, Moscow levelled threats in response.

“If nothing is done, and the German people do not stop this, then there will be dire consequences first and foremost for Germany itself,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova mentioned on the time.

In her retort, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock mentioned: “If Russia had not brutally attacked this country, Ukraine would not have to defend itself.”