Leader of German opposition advocated the transfer of Taurus missiles to Ukraine

14 October, 2024 Friedrich Merz is the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) opposition party in Germany. Photo: Picture Alliance The leader of the opposition Christian Democratic Union party, Friedrich Merz, has called for the transfer of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.

He said this during a large interview on the ARD TV channel. Speaking in the studio as the leader of the largest opposition party in the Bundestag, Merz said that providing Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles was necessary if Russia did not stop shelling the country's territory. In his opinion, this process should take place gradually.

First, Russia should be given an ultimatum: if the shelling continues, the restrictions on the use of long-range weapons will first be lifted.

Eurofighter with Taurus missiles. Photo credits: Taurus Systems

The second step will be the direct transfer of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, which can probably be used for the strikes on the territory of Russia. The transfer of cruise missiles is one of the points that Friedrich Merz plans to implement along with other defense reforms if he becomes the head of the German government.

At the same time, he is a supporter of a significant increase in defense spending and an increase in the independence of the German and European defense industry from the United States. "Russia is now arming itself to the point where it will be able to attack the NATO territory in five to eight years," Mertz said.

A Taurus missile on a German air force fighter jet. Photo from open sources

The issue of transferring Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine has long been ignored by the current Scholz government, which, according to Friedrich Merz, lacks a strategic vision of the policy options for Ukraine.

In addition, the current chancellor is under some pressure from the United Kingdom government, which has proposed a deal to transfer Taurus KEPD 350 cruise missiles to the United Kingdom.

In turn, the British government will transfer Storm Shadow cruise missiles from the Royal Air Force, which are used by the Ukrainian Air Force from the Su-24M frontline bombers.

Militarnyi previously reported that the European Parliament had called on the EU countries to lift the restrictions on Ukraine's use of Western weapons to strike military targets in Russia.