““This is a challenge for us, in principle, a long-range weapon,” said the President of Ukraine”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“With regard to individual weapons systems, we have a certain vision about whether it is right to provide them or not. This is related to the range and the need to control the targeting, so we refused, but this does not reduce our support, which is very comprehensive and for me it is important to say that it will remain comprehensive in the future,” said Olaf Scholz.
According to him, Germany provides Ukraine with the largest military aid among European countries and will continue to do so in the future. The chancellor also listed what weapons his country supplies to the Ukrainian army.
“What we supply is not only anti-aircraft defenses, but also very dangerous weapons, rocket launchers, artillery systems that reach very long distances, and everything necessary to fight tanks and all other types of armored vehicles. We even made sure that there were repair centers in many places,” said the chancellor, who is in Kyiv on a visit.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy answered to journalists whether he understands the arguments of the German chancellor not to provide Taurus missiles and how they would change the situation on the battlefield.
“Olaf and I have a lot of common views on some issues. There are different views on some. We are constantly working to make sure that we have more in common when it comes to Taurus. This is a challenge for us, in principle, a long-range weapon. You’ve heard a lot about it. We worked on the position of Germany, the United States, France, and Britain. How would that help us? We could hit the military targets of the Russian Federation more,” Volodymyr Zelenskyi said.
The President of Ukraine also thanked Olaf Scholz for the assistance already provided, in particular, regarding the strengthening of air defense.
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On November 19, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed his decision not to send long-range German Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, noting that Germany is and will remain Kyiv’s biggest supporter in Europe, but it is important to “do everything we do with prudence.”
“In my view, supplying cruise missiles would be a mistake for many reasons,” he added, citing the danger that it would bring Germany closer to direct conflict with Russia.
In Germany, Scholz’s refusal to provide Kyiv with Taurus missiles is controversial even in his own tripartite coalition with the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP).
Taurus – 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 designed for high-precision strikes and destruction of highly protected and buried targets, without the carrier aircraft entering the enemy’s air defense zone.