Ukraine’s leader says the chancellor wants the missiles to defend Germany — which is not the version of events given to the German public.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sharply criticized German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for refusing to provide Kyiv with German-made Taurus cruise missiles and suggested the reluctance is based on his desire to keep the weapons for Berlin’s own defense against a threat from Russia.
“As far as I understand, the chancellor believes that, as he is a representative of a non-nuclear state, this is is the only weapon that Germany has, is the most powerful one,” Zelenskyy said of the Taurus missiles in an interview with Axel Springer, POLITICO’s parent company. “He shared messages with me saying that he cannot leave his country without such a powerful weapon,” Zelenskyy added of Scholz.
Germany’s government, however, presents its public with quite different logic for not sending the weapons. Scholz has steadfastly refused to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine, saying in public statements that such a move could lead to an escalation of the war and could even draw Germany into direct conflict with Russia.
I dont like Sholz’s explanation, if you even want to call it one, but I also don’t think we keep them as a last line of defense, as Zelenskyy is framing it, since we have our NATO allies who can handle Russia with ease if they do something more stupid, than they already do.
In fact most germans dont know why we are not sending Taurus to Ukraine or understand the reasons behind this decision, but I think Ukraine will ultimately get them like they did get our other weapons and tanks. It’s just this unnecessary long process of our politicians that I absolut hate and do not unterstand, since we have to stop those Russians by any means and as fast as possible to prevent further casualites…