Berlin decries Russian strikes on Ukraine, but Scholz still opposes supplying Taurus missiles to Kyiv
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Berlin is still not ready to provide Taurus cruise missiles to Kyiv, German government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said, at the same time condemning Russia's recent attacks on Ukraine and calling them a war crime, German Tagesschau reported on Jan. 3.
"There is no new status in this matter," he said while stressing that massive attacks on civilian infrastructure are "absolutely disgusting."
The head of the Bundestag Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, earlier called for the transfer of Taurus missiles to Ukraine and urged the German government to speed up the supply of ammunition.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters "in irritation" during a visit to Kyiv in November 2023 that Ukraine would not receive Taurus missiles from his country.
Olaf Scholz’s hesitance could be explained by his concern that Ukraine would use the missiles to strike inside Russia, thus drawing Berlin into direct confrontation with Moscow.
Russia launched a massive attack on Ukraine in several waves on Jan. 2. In total, Russia used more than 130 munitions: 35 Shahed drones at night and 99 missiles in the morning, including X-101/X-555/X-55 from Tu-95 bombers, Kinzhals from MiG-31K aircraft, Kalibrsfrom the sea, and Iskander-M/S-300/S-400 missiles from the north.
Ukraine's air defense and defense forces destroyed all the Shahed attack UAVs and 72 of the 99 missiles. In total, five people were killed and more than 130 were injured in Russia’s assault on Ukraine on Jan. 2.
Russia carried out another massive attack before that as on the evening of Dec. 28, 2023, the aggressor state attacked Ukraine with kamikaze drones, and overnight on Dec. 28-29, with missiles.
Air defense systems shot down 114 of the 158 missiles and drones launched by Russia over Ukraine that day, which was the most massive air attack since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
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