Ukraine needs ballistic missile defence, and since there is currently nothing with which to shoot down missiles, it is necessary to look for ways to destroy the occupiers’ launchers. That is what the German Taurus missiles are needed for.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in an interview with ZDF.
“Why do we want to order Taurus? Because when the Americans were unable to provide us with anti-ballistic missiles for air defence, we have only one option: to destroy Russian launch sites. They have set up entire launch areas and are killing us, and we cannot defend ourselves. These are not civilian sites, not infrastructure, not energy facilities. That is why we were so keen to order Taurus. Not just to order them, but also, once again, to test them. It benefits both sides,” the head of state stressed.
Zelensky noted that the war in Ukraine has given weapons manufacturers the opportunity to increase revenues and order books. For example, as happened with the IRIS-T systems.
“We made IRIS-T the number one brand in the world after Patriot, which is anti-ballistic. Now this system costs from 600,000 to around a million to one and a half million. This war did that. It also brought all the problem issues to the surface, because only in a real war can you truly eliminate the weak points of one defence system or another. Germany has order backlogs for 10–20 years. The cost of a missile has risen several times over, by tens of times. And all of this means jobs,” Zelensky said.