What are Germany’s Taurus missiles that Ukraine wants?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has held talks with Germany’s Friedrich Merz in Berlin, days after the newly installed chancellor said Kyiv’s Western allies had lifted range restrictions on their missiles and would allow Ukraine to use them to strike deep inside Russian territory.

Merz made the announcement on Monday as Russia carried out heavy aerial bombardments on Ukraine and both sides launched tit-for-tat drone attacks.Since taking office on May 6, however, Merz has deepened efforts to retain Western support for Ukraine amid efforts by US Donald Trump’s administration to end the war. Trump has been critical of the US aid to Ukraine under his predecessor Joe Biden. But recent intensified Russian aerial attacks on Ukraine have angered Trump, who has called Putin “crazy”.

Ukraine believes the Taurus would be a game-changer in the war.

Here’s what to know about the weapons:

What are Taurus missiles?
The Taurus is a German-Swedish low-cruise, long-range air missile that can accurately deliver heavy explosives to targets as far away as 500km (300 miles).

It was manufactured in 1998 through a joint partnership between the German missile company MBDA Deutschland and Sweden’s Saab Bofors Dynamics.A powerful warhead allows the missile to penetrate and cause significant damage to deep or hard targets, such as underground bunkers, communication facilities, ammunition storage warehouses and ships. The missile can also travel over long distances without GPS support.

Although Ukraine already uses Western-provided missiles from the US and the United Kingdom, some experts and Ukrainian officials believe this projectile would be the strongest Western missile to be used by Ukraine if Germany gives a green light because the others have only half of the range of the Taurus and cannot carry as much ammunition.

Why hasn’t Germany given Ukraine these missiles yet?
Scholz’s left-leaning Social Democratic Party (SPD)-led coalition government was cautious of escalating the war and possibly drawing in Germany, and by default, NATO.That’s because Moscow has warned several times that if Ukraine uses any Western missiles inside Russian territory, it would be perceived as those countries directly entering the conflict. It’s also due to the SPD’s stance against war.

Germany – which currently provides Ukraine with short-range rockets, including the M142 HIMARS MLRS and MARS II MLRS – and other weapons-providing Western allies initially restricted Ukraine from using their weapons inside Russia but allowed Kyiv to hit Russian targets within Ukraine.

In November, former US President Biden, however, lifted restrictions on US weapons, allowing Ukraine to use them in Russia’s Kursk region. That came at a time when Kyiv had launched a surprise offensive on the region on its border. Some experts said lifting the restrictions was a major help to Ukraine. It has since lost most of the territory it had seized but does continue to hold some Russian land.

In March 2024, Russia tapped a top-secret conversation among Germany’s military brass in which officials discussed whether they might be able to persuade Scholz to send the Taurus to Ukraine and whether the missile could blow up the Kerch Bridge connecting Russia to Ukraine’s occupied Crimea region.

Is Germany changing its stance now and will it matter?
Berlin appeared ready to change its tone under Merz’s new administration.

As an opposition member, Merz, who heads the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), had pressured Scholz to send the Taurus to Ukraine and for Germany to take a stronger stance against Russia.