By Anadolu staff
BERLIN (AA) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz defended his decision Wednesday not to supply Ukraine with long-range Taurus missiles to prevent a confrontation between NATO and Russia.
Scholz addressed lawmakers during a question-and-answer session in parliament and said the advanced, long-range weapons could not be delivered without assigning German soldiers for such a mission.
“For me, it’s out of the question to deliver such long-range weapons systems, the deployment of which could only be reasonable if it also involves the deployment of German soldiers for this mission, even outside of Ukraine. That’s a line that I, as chancellor, do not want to cross,” he said.
The Social Democrat politician pointed out that using the powerful, sophisticated missile systems without German military oversight, might have unintended consequences.
“It’s a long-range weapon that reaches up to 500 kilometers (310 miles). For me it wouldn’t be a responsible thing to deploy this weapons system without the participation of German soldiers,” he said.
Scholz dismissed criticisms by opposition lawmakers, who claimed that he is blocking the delivery of the Taurus missiles to Ukraine because he does not trust Kyiv and fears Ukrainians can use them to attack Moscow.
“I want to say this explicitly. We trust Ukraine. That is why Germany is by far the largest supplier of weapons to Ukraine, among the European states,” said the chancellor, adding that his government has so far allocated or pledged €28 billion ($30.6 billion) in military aid to Ukraine.
Ukraine has repeatedly asked Germany for Taurus cruise missiles. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said last month that Kyiv needs the weapons “not for an attack on Moscow,” but “to destroy the Russian military infrastructure along the frontline on Ukrainian territory.”
The powerful cruise missiles and are well-known for success in properly targeting objects including bridges, or hard and deeply buried targets, such as command bunkers.