Kuleba dismisses fears of escalation if Germany gives Taurus missiles to Ukraine

DW writes about it.

"Ukraine wants Taurus missiles to help save more soldiers and civilians. This will also make the process of taking back its land faster and end the war more quickly," explained Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

"The idea is simple: if missiles can travel a long distance, the war will be shorter," he added.

He also mentioned that with these missiles, Ukraine can target Russian forces that have invaded their land, even beyond the front line. This can disrupt their supplies and destroy their command centers and places where they keep weapons.

Kuleba also made it clear that worries about Ukraine using Taurus missiles against Russia are not true.

"We will only use these missiles within our borders to free our own land, as stated by the UN Charter and international laws," he assured. He reminded everyone that when Germany provided weapons to Ukraine before, it didn't make the conflict worse.

"Actually, German weapons have already saved many Ukrainian lives," the minister added.

What we know about Germany sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine

In May, it was reported that Ukraine had asked Germany for long-range missiles.

At the end of June, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that Germany did not intend to provide Ukraine with these missiles.

In early August, it was reported that the Bundestag had reached a consensus on the transfer of Taurus missiles to Ukraine. These missiles can hit targets up to 500 km away.

Then, on August 11, it was said that the German government is thinking about giving Ukraine Taurus long-range cruise missiles from the Bundeswehr storage in the next months. They were having secret talks with defense industry people about this. The Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, wants to change the missiles to make sure Ukraine can't hit Russian land with them. This change wouldn't affect the occupied Crimea.

But on the same August 11, Bild newspaper said that the German government is saying that neither the Chancellor's office nor the Defense Ministry is actually discussing sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine. They don't have any information about a decision already being made to give these German cruise missiles to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.