Friedrich Merz expresses readiness to provide Taurus to Ukraine

The German politician, who is due to take office as chancellor next month, emphasized the need to put Ukraine on the front foot and force Russia's Vladimir Putin to make concessions and end the war.

Merz strongly condemned the Russian missile attack on the city of Sumy on April 13, Palm Sunday. He called the attack a "serious war crime" and added that Ukraine needs help to "get ahead" in the conflict.

Asked if he would fulfill his previous call for Germany to provide Ukraine with Taurus missiles, which official Kyiv has long requested from Berlin, Merz said he was ready to do so if it was done in coordination with European allies.

"Our European partners are already supplying cruise missiles. The British are doing it, the French are doing it, and the Americans are doing it anyway," he told public broadcaster ARD on Sunday evening.

Merz also added that "this must be jointly agreed. And if it agreed, then Germany should take part."

Commenting on US President Donald Trump's efforts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, the future German chancellor warned that Putin would not "respond positively to weakness and peace offers."

Merz noted that the Russian attack on Sumy, which killed at least 34 civilians and wounded 117, is "what Putin does to those who talk to him about a ceasefire."

The German politician also added, "at some point, [Putin] must recognise the hopelessness of this war, which means we have to help Ukraine."

On Sunday, Merz not only declared his readiness to supply Taurus missiles to Ukraine but also suggested that they could be used to strike targets such as the illegally built Crimean Bridge, which is considered a symbol of Putin's occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014.

Taurus question for Ukraine

The outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly rejected requests from Kyiv and its allies to supply the Ukrainian Defense Forces with Taurus missiles, which have an intelligent warhead system that can cause massive damage to structures such as bridges and bunkers.

With a range of more than 500 kilometers, the Taurus system, a joint venture between European missile manufacturer MBDA and Swedish company Saab, is longer than the Storm Shadow system supplied by the British and French. It is also larger than the army tactical missile system provided to Ukraine by the United States. This would theoretically allow the Ukrainian Armed Forces to strike deep behind the front lines.

As Scholz has previously stated, the transfer of Taurus missiles to Ukraine would carry "a great risk of escalation" of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Instead, Merz (the leader of the center-right Christian Democrats party, which came first in the federal elections in February) criticized this position. He called on Scholz to issue an ultimatum to Putin in October 2024 and promise to deliver such missiles within 24 hours if he does not stop attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also expressed hope that Ukraine would receive long-range Taurus missiles from Germany after the new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, comes to power.