Germany Eyes Plan With UK, France on Missiles for Ukraine
- Scholz government would supply European allies with Taurus
- UK, France would then send their versions to arm Kyiv’s forces
Photographer: Andrew Wheeler/Bloomberg
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Germany is examining a potential swap deal under which it would supply long-range cruise missiles to the UK and France so they can arm Ukraine with their versions of the weapons.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has balked at sending Germany’s bunker-busting Taurus directly to the government in Kyiv because he fears the missiles — which can strike targets more than 500 kilometers (311 miles) away — could be used to attack Moscow. Supplying them to Britain and France would mean they could ship more of their similar Storm Shadow and Scalp missiles, which have a shorter range of around 250 kilometers.