Ukraine needs Taurus missiles to destroy Russian launchers, Zelenskyy says
Photo: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine (facebook.com_zelenskyy.official)
Ukraine needs Taurus cruise missiles to destroy Russian missile launchers. Kyiv has no intention of striking civilian targets or Russia's energy infrastructure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated.
"Why do we want to order Taurus missiles? Because when the Americans were unable to supply us with anti-ballistic interceptors for our air defense, we were left with only one option: to destroy Russian launchers. They have built entire launch sites and are killing us, while we have no way to defend ourselves. These are not civilian targets, infrastructure, or energy facilities," Zelenskyy said.
The president added that Ukraine wants not only to order these missiles but also to test them. He stressed that this would be beneficial to both sides.
"We have made IRIS-T the world’s number one system after the Patriot, which is an anti-ballistic system. Today, it costs somewhere between $600,000 and around $1 million to $1.5 million. That’s the result of this war. We have also helped address all the problem areas, because only in a real war can you truly eliminate the weaknesses of a particular defense system," Zelenskyy emphasized.
President Zelenskyy pointed out that demand for Germany's IRIS-T air defense systems has created an order queue stretching 10 to 20 years, which also means more jobs. In addition, the price of the missile has increased dozens of times.
Earlier, Sweden's armed forces received a batch of Taurus cruise missiles from German military stockpiles. However, the exact number of missiles delivered has not been disclosed.
RBC-Ukraine previously reported that Merz said he saw no point in supplying Taurus missiles to Ukraine. According to him, Ukrainian weapons were more effective.
