Germany Refuses To Send Cruise Missiles To Ukraine

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius/PHOTO via Instagram @boris.pistorius

JAKARTA - German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius reiterated his refusal to deliver the Taurus cruise missile to Ukraine.

"We still see that this is not our top priority right now," the German news agency DPA said, citing Pistorius while visiting the city of Bad Reichenhall in southern Germany.

We are not the only (state) that does not send (village missiles). Our ally, the United States, also does not supply this cruise missile. Our missile has special range," he continued.

Ukraine urged Germany to send the Taurus cruise missile in order to attack Russia's armed forces far behind it.

However, the German government was reluctant to comply with the request because the missile type could reach Russian territory.

However, Pistorius did not rule out the possibility that Germany would one day deliver the weapons Ukraine needed, but not at this time.

Germany is the country that helps Ukraine the most in terms of air defense, training support, and armored vehicles, Pistorius said.

"This is our top priority, our core competence. Therefore, we currently see no urgent need to fulfill other requests," he added.

Although Pistorius refused, a number of German government coalition partners had other views.

Marcus Faber, a defense expert and member of parliament from the Free Democratic Party (FDP) in a coalition with the government, recently called Germany to send the missile to Ukraine.

According to Faber, now is the right time to ship cruise missiles due to the slow retaliatory attacks of Ukraine.

He assessed that the Taurus missile could help disrupt the logistics chain of the Russian army which could then disrupt its ammunition supply.

Last month, Germany announced plans to supply Ukraine with more weapons and ammunition worth nearly 700 million euros (Rp10 trillion).

The aid package includes two Patriot missile launchers from Germany's military arsenal, and 70 armored fighting vehicles, including 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles.

Artillery shells and reconnaissance as well as drone defense assets will also be provided.

In total, there are 31 items of goods to be delivered, some of which are taken from Germany's military inventory.

The German government last year also approved the export of weapons worth a total of 2.2 billion euros (Rp36.6 trillion) to Ukraine.

In the first half of this year, Germany's exports to Ukraine were worth 1.65 billion euros (Rp27.45 trillion).

Since May 2022, more than 3,500 Ukrainian soldiers have been trained to operate various weapons systems in Germany.