Pressure is mounting on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to give the green light for long-range Taurus missiles that would be a significant boost to Kyiv's weapons arsenal for striking critical Russian assets far behind the front lines.
"The chancellor must keep asking himself whether he is living up to his stated goal of doing all he can to prevent Russia obtaining a victorious peace," Joachim Gauck, Germany's former president, told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
"I don't understand why we are hesitating to deliver these and other weapons," he said.
Calls have been growing to pledge Taurus missiles within Scholz's own party for months. Germany has previously provided military support to Ukraine, including Leopard main battle tanks, 90 Marder infantry fighting vehicles and two Patriot air-defense systems.
But Berlin has refused to move past air-defense missiles to the air-launched Taurus cruise missiles that Ukraine requested in May 2023.
Markus Söder, the prime minister of Bavaria and chairman of the Christian Social Union (CSU) party in the German state, said Taurus missiles would help Ukraine defend against "constant drones and missile attacks," according to German media reports.
"The delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine is long overdue," said Sara Nanni, parliamentary spokesperson on defense policy for Germany's Green Party.
"Ukraine needs more ammunition, more spare parts and the Taurus," Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, the chair of the Bundestag's Defense Committee, told German media outlet t-online earlier this month. They should be delivered to Kyiv "immediately," she said.
Strack-Zimmermann had previously said in a post to social media in September 2023 that "he (Scholz) alone is blocking this decision" within Berlin's ruling coalition.
In response to a Newsweek request for comment, the German Defense Ministry pointed to remarks from spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit, who told the media on January 3 that there were no updates on whether Berlin would send Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
The Taurus missiles have a range in excess of 300 miles and are broadly similar to the British-provided Storm Shadow and French SCALP missiles.
Taurus missiles could help Ukraine gain the edge in contesting Russian control in Crimea, experts previously suggested to Newsweek.
Although Storm Shadows are very close in design to the Taurus, the latter's "slightly improved warhead design" would make it a better weapon for targeting bridges, such as the key Kerch Bridge, Fabian Hoffmann, a doctoral research fellow at the University of Oslo in Norway, told Newsweek in August 2023.
The Kerch Bridge is a vital supply line that links the Crimean peninsula to the Russian mainland.
Sending the Taurus would bolster Ukraine's long-range strike capabilities, giving Kyiv more weapons to strike deep behind the front lines into Russian-held territory from jets positioned further away from Russian air defenses.
These strikes could make a real difference for Ukraine after its summer counteroffensive failed to drastically change the now largely static front lines snaking through the east and south of the country.
Update 01/08/24, 11 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a response from the German Defense Ministry.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more
