Germany's Friedrich Merz says country open to sending long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine

Germany's likely incoming chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said Sunday that the country is open to supplying Ukraine with long-range Taurus missiles, but only with the support of its European partners, according to DW.

“I’ve always said I would do this, but only in coordination with European partners,” Merz said on the political talk show Caren Miosga on April 13.

Merz noted that several countries, including some European ones, are already providing Ukraine with cruise missiles. “The British are doing it, the French are doing it, and the Americans are doing it, in any case,” he said. If European partners agree to supply the Taurus missiles, the future Chancellor emphasized, “Germany must participate.”

According to Merz, the long-range missiles could be used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to strike transportation routes connecting Russia with the annexed Crimean Peninsula.

Update: In response to Merz’s statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that supplying Ukraine with Taurus missiles would lead to “inevitable escalation” and accused European countries of being “inclined to further provoking the continuation of the war,” Interfax reported on Monday.