EU Parliament President calls for Taurus arms aid for Kiev
Published: Saturday, Nov 23rd 2024, 05:40
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In view of Russia's intensified attacks in Ukraine, EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola is in favor of the rapid delivery of German Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. When asked whether the EU states - like the USA - should also allow the use of long-range missiles against targets in Russia and whether Germany should also supply the Taurus weapon system, Metsola replied to the Funke Mediengruppe newspaper: "Yes, that is also the position of the EU Parliament. There is broad support for this demand. We will see whether there is a corresponding change of course after the Bundestag elections."
Perhaps there could be such a change of course before then, Metsola added, because "there are also different positions on the Taurus delivery in the Berlin coalition". Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has long been opposed to a Taurus delivery. He fears that this could directly involve Germany in the war between Russia and Ukraine. The FDP and the Greens, on the other hand, are in favor of supplying the weapons system to Ukraine.
The discussion has flared up again in recent days after US President Joe Biden gave permission for the deployment of American ATACMS missiles with a range of up to 300 kilometers. The Taurus missiles have an even greater range of 500 kilometers.
Metsola pointed out that the Ukrainian defenders were under time pressure. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr President Selenskyj had rightly emphasized that Ukraine could not wait forever for powerful weapons assistance just because elections were always due in a Western country - while people were dying every day in the war in Ukraine. It was alarming that Russia was now escalating the war and intensifying its missile attacks, which were already causing many civilian casualties, said the politician from the Christian Democratic EPP group, to which the CDU and CSU also belong.
Russia fired a new medium-range ballistic missile at Ukraine in Dnipro on Thursday. The launch of the missile obviously also served as a signal of deterrence to the West.
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