Chancellor candidate Merz supported Germany's supply of Taurus missiles to Ukraine

German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz said on February 9 during a debate with incumbent Bundestag head Olaf Scholz that Germany should supply Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.

"I have always been very clear on the issue of Ukraine and Taurus deliveries. I have never changed my opinion," Merz said during a debate with incumbent Bundestag head Olaf Scholz.

According to the CDU chairman, the delivery of cruise missiles should be coordinated within the European Union (EU).

"America is supplying [Taurus], France is supplying, the UK is supplying. We should also supply," TAG 24 portal quotes Merz as saying.

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In turn, Chancellor Scholz during the debate called it wrong for his country to supply Ukraine with weapons with which to strike deep into Russia.

Earlier, on 19 January, it was reported that representatives of German political parties criticized the possible provision of financial aid to Ukraine in the amount of €3 billion, with the CDU deputies among others speaking out against the allocation of funds to Ukraine.

Before that, on 23 December 2024, a member of the Verkhovna Rada from the faction of the ruling Servant of the People party, Ruslan Horbenko, demanded that the German chancellor hand over the technology for the production of Taurus missiles and a license for them to Ukraine.

The next day, the Russian ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary envoy to Germany, Sergey Nechayev, in his turn, described the talk about the supply of German missiles to Ukraine as depressing. According to him, after the Ukrainian conflict, relations between Germany and Russia will be restored, but "on a different basis, taking into account the historical experience."

Before that, on December 16 last year, Scholz said that Germany would not help the Kiev authorities to the detriment of its own security, in particular to transfer Taurus missiles and send its military to Ukraine.

Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Ukraine against the backdrop of Russia's special operation to protect Donbass, which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, after the situation in the region worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.