German Chancellor Olaf Scholz once again clearly refused to supply Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, dpa reports, UNN writes.
Details
"My clarity is there. It is my job as chancellor, as head of the government, to be precise and not raise any misleading expectations. My answers are correspondingly clear," Scholz said at a press conference in Berlin on March 11. He was asked whether he, like German Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock, was considering a missile exchange with the UK instead of direct deliveries.
Scholz emphasized that he did not consider the deployment of the Taurus to be justifiable, which is why this issue was "neither direct nor indirect."
On Monday, he reportedly reiterated that he did not want to hand over the weapon system to the Ukrainians without German checks on the targeting system for which German soldiers are needed, he believes. That's why he denied the deployment, he said. Scholz has said he fears that Germany could otherwise be drawn into the war.
Addendum
Ukraine requested missiles with a range of 500 kilometers from Germany last May. Scholz first explicitly rejected the request in October and then again two weeks ago.
The day before, Burbock described an exchange in which Germany would transfer Taurus cruise missiles to the UK and London would supply Ukraine with more Storm Shadows from its stockpile as an "option". British Foreign Secretary David Cameron did not rule out such an approach in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung.