There is a strong suspicion that German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil from the Social Democratic Party has blocked the decision to provide Taurus missiles to Ukraine. This was reported by UNN with reference to Thе Guаrdian.
Details
On Monday, Merz announced that there are no longer any restrictions on weapons supplied to Ukraine by Great Britain, France, Germany and the United States, and that Ukraine can now conduct "long-range fire". It was implied that the valuable German Taurus missiles with a range of 500 km would finally be available, as Merz had promised while in opposition.
It is noted that the day after his promise of no restrictions, he was forced to clarify his statement, saying that it had been the case for a long time, and then evaded answering whether he would fulfill his promise to supply Taurus missiles.
There is a strong suspicion that Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil from the Social Democratic Party – Merz's coalition partners – blocked Merz. This episode was reminiscent of the paralysis that marred the previous coalition government
Ukraine Still Hopes to Receive German Taurus Missiles - Zelenskyy 28.05.25, 17:31 • [views_3643]
Merz's allies said that this episode was not entirely in vain. Thomas Röwekamp of the Christian Democratic Union, who is the chairman of the Bundestag's defense committee, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that by rejecting the range restrictions, Merz "removed one argument that prevented the supply of Taurus." This is not yet a "commitment" to supply "Taurus", but the reason for the previous refusal has been "removed".
The wider risk for Merz is that his rhetoric does not match the reality of what he can provide, and rebuilding the German army after decades of neglect will take many years.
Addition
A few days ago, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz confirmed that the supply of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine is possible, but does not go into details.