Pistorius: Germany will not give Ukraine Patriot and Taurus

Germany will not be able to provide Ukraine with Patriot air defense systems and Taurus missiles, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in an interview with the Financial Times (FT).

According to him, Germany will not supply Ukraine with Taurus long-range missiles, despite repeated requests from Kiev.

According to the minister, of the 12 Patriot systems that Germany had, three have already been transferred to Kiev, two to Poland, and another is constantly involved in maintenance or training purposes. Only six systems remain at the disposal.

"This is really too little, especially considering the NATO capacity-building goals that we have to fulfill. We definitely can't give more," the minister said.

Pistorius also said that he intends to discuss with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in Washington is considering the possibility of acquiring two Patriot systems from the United States for transfer to Ukraine.

Earlier, on July 12, Major General Christian Freudding, who heads the special headquarters for Ukraine in the German Ministry of Defense, said that Germany would supply the first long-range weapons systems to Ukraine as early as the end of July.

Prior to that, on July 11, an agreement was signed between the Ukrainian industry and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, funded by Germany, for the production of missiles. The parties agreed on this program back in May.