Olaf Scholz’s message last week was clear: Berlin would not deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Kyiv because German soldiers would have to be sent to Ukraine to programme them. And that meant Germany would be dragged into war with Russia.
The German chancellor’s argument has now been blown apart — by his own military. A conversation between German air force officers that was intercepted and leaked by Russian media late last week revealed Ukrainian soldiers could operate the Taurus missiles without German “boots on the ground”, as long as they were adequately trained.
“The leak is official confirmation that the chancellor wasn’t telling the truth,” said Norbert Röttgen, an MP for the opposition Christian Democrats and member of the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee. “It massively damages his credibility.”