Germany’s Merz Closes Door on Taurus Missiles for Ukraine

(MENAFN) German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has firmly closed the door on delivering long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, arguing that Kyiv has rendered the debate obsolete by developing its own advanced domestic arsenal — pivoting instead to a call for expanded financial support.

Fielding questions before parliament on Wednesday, Merz said the prolonged political battle over the Taurus system — a missile with a 500-kilometer range capable of striking Moscow from Ukrainian territory — had effectively been overtaken by events on the ground.

"Today, Ukraine itself has long-range weapons in its depots, which it has built itself, partly with our help, and which are significantly more effective than the relatively small number of Taurus cruise missiles we could have delivered," Merz told lawmakers.

The chancellor acknowledged a shift in his own position, admitting that when he championed the missile deliveries from the opposition benches, he had wrongly assumed Berlin held sufficient operational stockpiles to spare. Since assuming office last May, that stance has quietly reversed.

With battlefield weapons no longer the bottleneck, Merz contended that Ukraine's most pressing need is now financial — directing Berlin's focus toward funding Kyiv's domestic arms production rather than supplying German hardware. The pledge is not trivial: Merz has already committed €11.5 billion ($13.2 billion) in military assistance to Ukraine for 2026.

His remarks land amid a notable cooling of Western resolve. Washington — once Kyiv's most powerful patron — has sharply curtailed its support under President Donald Trump, with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth declaring this month that weapons are now "better spent in our own interests." The retreat has left European capitals scrambling to fill an widening gap.

Compounding the pressure on Berlin is a drumbeat of corruption revelations emanating from Kyiv — among them a $100 million kickback scheme implicating the state nuclear operator and a vote-buying ring uncovered within the Ukrainian legislature. The scandals have stoked skepticism across European capitals increasingly wary of blank-check commitments.

The friction surfaced dramatically in Germany's own parliament last week, when Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-chair Alice Weidel confronted Merz directly, demanding to know whether the government planned to "continue financing one of the world's most corrupt countries with billions to prolong a hopeless war."

Adding fuel to the debate, a recent U.S. watchdog report revealed that $26 billion in USAID funds dispatched to Ukraine lacked adequate oversight, with contractors repeatedly failing to account for how the money was spent.

Russia, meanwhile, has maintained its long-standing position that continued Western military and financial backing for Ukraine serves only to extend a conflict it insists cannot be decided by outside support.

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