Scholz under pressure to send cruise missiles to Ukraine
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrat party (SPD), has recently pushed for Swedish-German Taurus missiles to be delivered to Kiev.
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivers a speech at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic on August 29, 2022. (AP)
German chancellor Olaf Scholz is under mounting pressure to provide cruise missiles to Ukraine to bolster its faltering counteroffensive.
Two lawmakers in Scholz’s Social Democrat party (SPD), which has often been more cautious than its coalition partners, have recently joined a chorus of voices calling for Swedish-German-made Taurus missiles to be sent to Kiev.
Andreas Schwarz, an SPD member of parliament, told German news outlet Der Spiegel on Sunday that the counteroffensive is "faltering" due to a lack of Ukrainian air power.
“That leaves only guided missiles such as Taurus cruise missiles, with which the Ukrainian army could overcome the minefields laid by the Russians and recapture territory.”
Read more: Ukraine's counteroffensive was doomed from the start and the US knew
His remarks were carefully mirrored by Nils Schmid, the SPD's foreign policy spokesperson in parliament, who told German daily Tagesspiegel that he did not "rule out" delivering systems such as Taurus in collaboration with the US.
Schmid, on the other hand, emphasized that it was critical to guarantee that Ukrainian troops, rather than German equivalents, could undertake target programming, or else Berlin would be "dangerously close to direct participation in the war."
Last month, France made the announcement that it would join Britain in providing Ukraine with SCALP/Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of more than 250 kilometers.
But, like the US, Germany has been more reticent, fearing the risk of escalation that would come with giving a missile with a range of more than 500 kilometers that might be used to hit Russian territory.
Last week, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stated that providing Ukraine with long-range Taurus missiles was "not a top priority" at the moment.
Read: Ukraine requests air-to-surface missiles from Germany
Behind some initial hesitancy, Germany dramatically increased its support for Ukraine, and today, it ranks fourth as a provider of military aid to Kiev.
Just like Washington, Berlin allegedly opposes supplying Kiev with weapons that may reach Russia and thereby escalate the confrontation between both countries.
Colonel Yuriy Ignat, a spokesperson for Ukraine's air force, stated that "we would like to see the Taurus cruise missiles alongside the Storm Shadows and Scalps."
“We need more weaponry of this type . . . you can see their effectiveness in the burning up of Russian weapons depots, pontoon crossings, and bridges,” According to Ignat.
Ex-CIA analyst: UK excuse of shrubbery for failed counteroff. 'stupid'
Days ago, the UK Defense Ministry attempted to hide Ukraine's publicly well-documented failures in the counteroffensive, blaming them instead on "undergrowth regrowing” in south Ukraine, and calling it the reason for the "slow progress of combat."
In July, Bild newspaper reported, citing a confidential German intelligence assessment, that Ukraine's counteroffensive is facing challenges due to poor execution of tactics.
Former US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst Larry Johnson called the UK military's claim that shrubbery was stopping Ukraine's efforts in their counteroffensive operation "stupid," and "ignorant."
In June, Ukraine claimed its forces were moving along in its counteroffensive but were battling to counter Russian air and artillery power, which was impeding their advances in the east and south.
On July 31, American political scientist John Mearsheimer said in an interview transcribed by The Grayzone that he was surprised at the West's encouragement for the Ukrainians' counteroffensive, which he compared to a suicide attack that would lead to counterproductive results.
