Ukraine still hopes to receive Taurus missiles from Germany - Kuleba

None of the negotiations with partners began with promises to provide new types of weapons, so Ukraine does not lose hope of receiving long-range Taurus cruise missiles from Germany.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said this on the Maybrit Illner talk show on the ZDF TV channel on Thursday, November 2, Ukrinform reports.

"We understand that Germany needs more time to make a decision on Taurus, and we respect this right by Germany to hand over the missiles at the appropriate time," Kuleba said.

He said that all negotiations with partners regarding the supply of new types of weapons began with the word "No": no HIMARS, no Leopards, no Patriots, no long-range missiles. But later ways were found to move forward, he said.

At the same time, Kuleba considers the argument regarding the need to limit the range of missiles in order to prevent Ukraine from using them against Russian territory to be meaningless. He said that, if necessary, the Ukrainian Armed Forces could have moved any artillery system to the border and fire at the maximum range on Russian territory. However, the diplomat said, Ukraine promised its partners, including the United States, that it would not use the provided weapons against Russia, and Kyiv understands and respects the decisions and concerns of its partners and will keep its word. This also applies to German missiles, which Ukraine still hopes to receive, Kuleba said.

"The whole discussion here is about trust... We are a reliable partner and this is the meaning of the discussion," he said.

Kuleba thanked the German government for the decision to transfer another Patriot air defense system to Ukraine, which will help protect people's lives and the country's energy infrastructure, as well as for all the support that Germany is providing to Ukraine.