Kiev previously called for Germanmade cruise missiles that could hit Moscow
Olaf Scholz and Zelenskyy
247 Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Berlin is reluctant to supply Kiev with longrange munitions out of concern about a possible escalation if Ukraine decides to use them to attack Russian territory.
In an extensive interview with German state television ARD on Sunday (2), the chancellor was asked why Berlin is refusing to supply Kiev with longrange cruise missiles, the Russian website RT reports.
“We carefully inspect every order we receive. “But for us there is a principle that I share with the US President: We do not want the weapons we supply to be used for attacks on Russian territories,” Scholz told ARD moderator Tina Hassel.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyi Scholz reportedly said at his meeting in Berlin in May that Kiev “urgently” wants SwedishGerman Taurus KEPD 350 missiles. The airborne munition is armed with a 500 kg (1,100 lb) warhead and can fly up to 500 km (310 mi).
Throughout the conflict, Ukraine demanded increasingly sophisticated weapons systems from its western sponsors. Kiev has ramped up its requests to NATO for the supply of fighter jets particularly the USbuilt F16 in recent months after receiving a commitment for dozens of Leopard 2 and 1, M1 Abrams and Challenger 2, Ukraine’s main battle tanks. had received. Several EU countries, the US and the UK.
PROCEED TO RECOMMENDATIONS
Berlin has repeatedly stated that it has no intention of risking an escalation by sending new types of weapons to Kiev alone and without prior coordination with other NATO partners.
Germany resisted calls to “release the Leopards” for months, until Washington vowed to also send some of its Abrams tanks later this year. In June, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius ruled out the idea of sending Taurus missiles for the foreseeable future.
So far, only Great Britain has supplied Kiev with longrange missiles. According to the Russian military, Kiev has already used the shadow of the storm, which has a range of more than 250 km, to attack civilian installations in the Russian city of Lugansk and elsewhere across the front line in Donbass.
French President Emmanuel Macron followed suit, promising that his country will also supply Kyiv with its Storm Shadow variant called SCALPEGs, although it is unknown when these will be supplied.
Washington has yet to approve delivery of its longrange tactical missile systems (ATACMS). Manufactured by Lockheed Martin, the MGM140 ATACMS is a tactical ballistic missile with a range of up to 300 km (190 miles). The missiles can be launched from the M270 MLRS or M142 HIMARS platforms, both of which the US has already supplied to Ukraine.
However, weeks after Ukraine’s muchvaunted counteroffensive, which has so far not met with much success, the Wall Street Journal reported last week that the decision to deploy ATACMS now “requires toplevel approval.”