'The time for us to make a decision has not yet come,' German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said earlier in August.
Ukraine could be on the cusp of getting Germany's Taurus long-range cruise missiles, possibly giving Kyiv the edge it needs to move its ongoing counteroffensive firmly into Russian-controlled Crimea. As German politicians in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's own party speak up in favor of providing Taurus missiles to Ukraine—something Kyiv has been requesting for months—attention is turning to the longer-range capabilities Taurus and U.
S.-made ATACMS ballistic missiles could provide.on Monday they could not give any new information on the transfer of Taurus systems to Ukraine, referring to comments from German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on August 3. "We are still of the opinion that right now this is not our top priority," Pistorius said on Thursday."We are not the only ones not delivering. Our American allies are not supplying these cruise missiles either. Ours have a special range. The time for us to make a decision has not yet come." This image shows an aircraft armed with the Taurus KEPD 350E weapon system, which Germany has, so far, refused to send to Ukraine. However, Kyiv could be on the cusp of getting the long-range cruise missiles.But Taurus missiles, broadly the same as Anglo-French Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles, could give Ukraine the edge in contesting Russian control in Crimea, an expert has toldThe U.K. said in May it was sending Storm Shadows, a promise followed by France in mid-July. Experts quickly said the missiles would, complicating Moscow's air defense plans. Although Storm Shadows are very close in design to the Taurus, the latter's"slightly improved warhead design" would make it a better weapon for targeting bridges, according to Fabian Hoffmann, a doctoral research fellow at the University of Oslo in Norway. Russia has blamed several attacks on bridges in the annexed Crimean peninsula on Ukraine, and specifically on U.K.-supplied Storm Shadow missiles. On Sunday, the Russian-backed governor of Ukraine's southern Kherson region said Kyiv had linking mainland Ukraine with Crimea. Unverified footage showed holes in the bridge, with Russian media and officials reporting temporarily paused traffic. Russia has also accused Ukraine of attacking the Kerch Bridge, connecting Russia to Crimea, with naval drones. But ultimately,"these attacks on bridges using Storm Shadow have not been terribly effective, it seems," Hoffmann told. Although it is difficult to tell from photos and available footage, Storm Shadow strikes appear to have damaged the bridges, but not taken them out for long periods of time. Storm Shadow missiles manage to penetrate the first layer of the bridge, but fail to critically damage its structure, Hoffmann said. The Taurus, however, could have a secondary warhead which detonates once the initial blast gets through the first layer, he said. The second warhead"explodes in the pillar, which then of course maximizes the destructiveness and can really cause significant damage to a bridge." "This is one area where the Taurus could provide a qualitative edge," Hoffmann said, adding the Storm Shadows are"90 percent the same missile" as the Taurus.
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