Taurus delivery uncertain despite Merz’s support for long-range strikes - media

The Guardian reported the information.

The outlet noted that since taking office three weeks ago, Friedrich Merz promised Germany would have the strongest conventional army in Europe, hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Berlin, visited Kyiv, and lifted the debt cap, allowing urgently needed funding for the Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces.

During a recent speech in the Bundestag, the chancellor stated that Ukraine could use Western weapons at greater range, seemingly opening the way for the transfer of Taurus missiles, capable of striking targets up to 500 km away.

“The implication was that Germany’s prized 500 km-range Taurus missiles were to be finally made available, as indeed Merz had vowed while in opposition. This meant Moscow was vulnerable to these bunker-busting bombs, as were Crimea’s strategic bridges,” the article’s author noted.

At the same time, the very next day Merz softened his rhetoric, stressing that the policy had been in place for a long time, and then avoided answering whether he would fulfill his campaign promise to supply Taurus missiles.

“The strong suspicion is that the finance minister, Lars Klingbeil, of the Social Democratic party – Merz’s coalition partners – blocked Merz. The episode was reminiscent of the paralysis that disfigured the previous coalition government,” the report said.

According to The Guardian, another obstacle is technical: Ukrainian troops would need at least six months of training to operate the missiles. There’s also the question of whether Germany is willing to train them directly in Ukraine.

Currently, the government has retreated to a position of strategic ambiguity regarding its next steps and is focusing on offering Ukraine a partnership for joint missile production.

Meanwhile, Merz’s allies believe his statement still mattered — it removed a key political barrier regarding strike range that had previously held back the Taurus decision.

Thomas Röwekamp of the Christian Democratic Union, who chairs the Bundestag’s Defense Committee, said that by lifting the range restrictions, Merz “removed one argument preventing the Taurus from being delivered.” This is not yet a “commitment” to supplying Taurus, but the reason for the earlier refusal has been “eliminated.”

“The wider risk for Merz is that his rhetoric does not match the reality of what he can deliver, and rebuilding a German army after decades of neglect will take many years,” the article's author noted. “Still, however long it takes, and whatever the missteps, Germany’s partners have already mentally adjusted to the return of Germany as the premier military force in Europe.”

• On May 10, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, answering a question about the possible transfer of long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine, said that this matter would be discussed within the Coalition of the Willing and together with the U.S.
• On May 12, it became known that the German government plans to restrict information about military aid deliveries to Ukraine. At the same time, Berlin will no longer comment on plans to transfer Taurus missiles to Kyiv.
• On May 26, Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that Germany, along with the United States, France, and Great Britain, had lifted restrictions on the range of their weapons used by Ukraine.