Scholz called for more support for Ukraine. Germany will add the Patriot system, the taurus will not

“I would like to use this opportunity to ask our friends in Europe to look again in their arsenals to see if something could be done to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses,” Scholz said after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Germany has decided to hand over the third Patriot system to Ukraine, but according to President Volodmyr Zelensky, Ukraine needs at least seven with the appropriate number of missiles to protect cities.

According to Reuters, Greece and Spain were under pressure in this context. Both countries were asked to hand over one Patriot system each to Ukraine. Athens and Madrid refused, but Spain nevertheless promised to send missiles to these systems.

The Ukrainians would also need the German Taurus cruise missiles, which have a range of 500 kilometers. However, the German chancellor repeatedly refuses to provide them to Kyiv, because they could hit targets deep in Russian territory.

“These weapons would increase the risk of bringing Germany into the war because it would involve German soldiers in controlling targets,” Scholz insisted on Wednesday.

But the chancellor no longer claims that he would have to send German soldiers to Ukraine so that they could operate the missiles. This was refuted by a recording of a conversation between high-ranking German officers, which was published by the Russians in March. It showed that there are several ways in which the Ukrainians could effectively use the taurus with or without German participation.