Taurus missiles for Ukraine: Scholz is deemed indecisive, but he says about "thorough review of decisions"

Paul Ronzheimer wrote about this on Twitter.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz needs to decide clearly: either he wants Ukrainians to recover significant land and stop blocking supplies like Taurus missiles, or he should clearly explain his policy's goal if he doesn't believe in Ukraine reclaiming territories.

He added that being "in the middle," offering some weapon support without going too far to avoid angering Putin, is not reliable.

"Chancellor, just say clearly what you want to achieve!" he emphasized.

During an interview with the German TV channel ZDF, set to air on Sunday, August 13, Germany's Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz mentioned that he isn't yet ready to commit to supplying Ukraine with German Taurus long-range cruise missiles. This information was reported by DW.

Kanzler Olaf Scholz muss sich endlich bekennen:  Entweder will er, dass die Ukrainer erheblich Gebiete zurückgewinnen können, dann darf er Lieferungen wie Taurus-Raketen nicht länger blockieren. Oder aber der Kanzler muss klar sagen, dass er NICHT an die Rückeroberung… pic.twitter.com/6JCX4S74tE

— Paul Ronzheimer (@ronzheimer) August 12, 2023

Scholz stated, "As before, we'll carefully consider each decision to see what's possible, logical, and what our contribution could be." He commented on the matter of providing these German missiles to Ukraine. This approach also applies to potentially supplying weapons like Taurus, Scholz added.

However, Scholz made it clear that he doesn't want to be pressured on the matter. He also highlighted the military assistance already given to Ukraine by Germany, which includes artillery, tanks, and air defense equipment.

Scholz emphasized that Germany is the second-largest contributor to Ukraine after the USA. He mentioned that President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, recently expressed gratitude to Germany for its support.

Regarding media reports about possibly limiting the range of Taurus cruise missiles Germany might provide to Ukraine, Scholz said, "We're addressing all the matters that come up." He explained that he'd only comment on such aspects "when there's something to say."

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.

Dmytro Kuleba, the Foreign Affairs Minister, said there's no need to worry about Germany giving Taurus missiles to Ukraine