UK, France Help Ukrainian Forces With Long-Range Missile 'Target Control,' Scholz Says
One expert says the German chancellor is 'unwittingly helping to break the taboo on the presence of NATO-member forces in Ukraine'
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz let the cat out of the bag Monday and said NATO countries are not only providing weapons to the Ukrainians but are helping Kyiv’s forces fire these weapons at Russian targets.
Scholz was addressing reporters about his reluctance to provide Ukraine with his country’s feared Taurus missiles, which have a longer range than the missiles already provided by Britain and France. He also said the missiles would require German troops on the ground in Ukraine.
The Associated Press quoted him saying, “What is being done in the way of target control and accompanying target control on the part of the British and the French can’t be done in Germany. Everyone who has dealt with this system knows that.”
François Heisbourg, a senior adviser with the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, posted on X: “Looks like Scholz cares as little (or even less) for his U.K. allies as he does for the French. Silver lining nonetheless: he's unwittingly helping to break the taboo on the presence of NATO-member forces in Ukraine.”
Berlin has provided Kyiv with tanks, armored vehicles, munitions, and anti-aircraft defense systems.
The UK has provided Ukraine with its Storm Shadow cruise missile with a range of nearly 200 miles. These missiles were also reportedly modified so they could not reach deep inside Russia. France provided Ukraine with its long-range SCALP missiles.
Fabian Hoffmann, a doctoral research fellow at the University of Oslo in Norway, told Newsweek that Germany’s Taurus is more lethal than the U.S. ATACMS and the U.K.’s Storm Shadow missiles. These Taurus missiles have a range of 310 miles and are considered the most modern weapon in the German arsenal.
Scholz said the missile “in case of incorrect usage, could hit a certain target somewhere in Moscow. That's why, I'm speaking in all diplomatic abstraction; others have also made sure they know where everything goes.”
Ben Wallace, the former UK defense head, said Scholz was “not only dangerous use of facts but also often wrong facts.”
"Scholz's behavior has showed that as far as the security of Europe goes, he is the wrong man, in the wrong job at the wrong time," he said, according to The UK’s Standard.
TRENDPOST: Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, said it’s “no secret that the British really provide different forms of support. People on the ground and intelligence and so on and so forth. That is, they are actually directly involved in this conflict.”