German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock supports Ukraine's request for Taurus long-range cruise missiles, despite the polar opposite position of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Bloomberg reports.
Scholz has ruled out sending the weapons out of fear that it could provoke a direct conflict with Russia.
Baerbock, a member of the Green Party, said Germany's military support to Ukraine continues to focus on air defence systems to protect critical infrastructure.
"We are a democracy, we don't have unity in our coalition, that's why we are not providing Taurus," she said.
Asked whether she personally supports the weapons shipment, the minister added: "Obviously."
Berlin's position on missiles
Although Germany is the second largest arms donor to Ukraine after the US, Social Democrat Scholz is not giving in to pressure to supply Kyiv with Taurus missiles. He argues that the 500-kilometre range of the weapon means that it could be used to strike targets deep inside Russia, potentially drawing Germany directly into the conflict.
At the same time, the governing coalition recently allowed the Ukrainian government to use the weapons provided by Berlin to target Russian territory and missile sites near the Ukrainian border.
Baerbock partially blamed Russia's war in Ukraine on Germany's current budget constraints: "because we thought that an aggressive war would never return to the European continent".
She noted that Scholz's government alliance is forced to spend "billions of our budget" that could otherwise be invested in modernising the country's production base.
"But since our security is under threat, we have to invest a lot not only in supporting Ukraine but also in our own self-defence," she added.
- Germany had increased its military aid to Ukraine by €400 million. In total, Germany's assistance in 2024 was planned at around €8 billion.