German Chancellor Merz Says Long-Range Missiles for Ukraine Coming Soon—But Keeps Details Secret as a "Degree of Ambiguity is Necessary for the Russian side" (united24media.com)
from Sepia@mander.xyz to world@lemmy.world on 20 Nov 13:59
https://mander.xyz/post/42162254

cross-posted from: mander.xyz/post/42162217

Germany is moving toward providing Ukraine with new long-range strike capabilities, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz confirming that technical consultations with Kyiv have been underway for months and are now approaching completion.

…

Speaking at a press conference in Berlin, Merz said the government has agreed in principle to supply long-range missile systems to bolster Ukraine’s ability to hit Russian forces far behind the front line. He declined to reveal how many systems are being prepared or when they will arrive, framing the secrecy as a deliberate strategy.

“The Ukrainian army will be equipped with these weapons systems,” Merz said. But he added that Germany will not publicly outline timelines or quantities, arguing that “a degree of ambiguity is necessary, especially for the Russian side” to complicate Moscow’s efforts to gauge Ukraine’s battlefield reach.

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tal@lemmy.today on 21 Nov 04:28 collapse

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_KEPD_350

Germany apparently has 600 Taurus air-launched cruise missiles.

They apparently have a next-gen longer-range variant coming out in 2029, and are ordering 600 of those.

If I had to make a guess, the second batch — exactly the same size — presumably is to replace the first, which means that they’re presumably not gonna need (all?) the first batch in four years.

Ukraine apparently also requested some.

In May 2023, the German Federal Ministry of Defence said that Ukraine had requested the missile during the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.[16] In interviews in June and July 2023, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius said that Germany would not supply Ukraine with long-range missiles.[17][18][19] In January 2024, the German Bundestag voted against the supply of the Taurus missile to Ukraine.[20] In February 2024, the German Bundestag and Chancellor Olaf Scholz again expressly refused Ukraine’s request while agreeing to deliver longer range weapons.[21][22] In May 2025 newly elected chancellor Friedrich Merz made more ambiguous statements regarding Taurus, that their delivery to Ukraine was within the ‘realm of possibility’ and that the discussion about their delivery to Ukraine would not be public.[23][24]