Taurus Missiles to Ukraine Will Drag Germany into War, Russia Warns

Russia said Thursday it would treat Ukrainian attacks on transport infrastructure using German Taurus long-range missiles as “direct participation” in the conflict by Berlin. The warning came after German chancellor-designate Friedrich Merz said he was open to supplying the missiles to Kyiv. 

 “Taurus attacks on Russia’s critical transport infrastructure facilities… all this will be regarded as Germany’s direct participation in hostilities,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.

The Kremlin issued a similar warning to Berlin on Monday, saying the Taurus supplies risked further escalation in the more than three-year-old conflict. 

Outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz has ruled out sending the missiles to Kyiv, but Merz said Sunday he was open to the idea as long as Germany agreed with its European partners. 

Britain has said it would support Germany if it decides to send the missiles. Russia has long criticized Western countries for supplying long-range weapons to Ukraine, arguing that Kyiv uses them to attack targets deep inside Russian territory. 

Both the United States and Britain have supplied long-range missiles to Ukraine. (yn)