Emmanuel Thomas, DPA, Saturday, May 27, 2023
KIEVE – Ukraine has asked the German government to provide Taurus cruise missiles as it seeks to fend off a full-scale Russian invasion launched in February last year.
This is coming months after the supply of Leopold Tanks to Ukraine as part of effort to defend itself against Russia’s invasion.
A request to this effect was received from Kiev in the past few days, a Defence Ministry spokeswoman said on Friday evening.
However, details remained unclear including the number of weapons requested by Kiev.
An opposition Christian Democrat lawmaker who focuses on defence issues, Roderich Kiesewetter, spoke out in favour of supplying the weapons a few days ago.
“The guided missiles with a range of up to 500 kilometres would enable the country under attack to “strike at the Russian military infrastructure far behind the front line,” he said.
The news came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was continuing to seek support from his Western partners.
“We will do everything possible and impossible to speed up the delivery of further air defence systems of higher quality to Ukraine,” he said in his evening video address on Friday. This is “literally a daily matter in cooperation with partners.”
Ukraine is making faster progress in modernizing its defence than could have been foreseen six months ago, he said.
