The chairman of the EP Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmerman, believes that it is necessary to strengthen assistance to Kiev
BERLIN, August 6th. /tass/. The chairman of the Defense Committee of the European Parliament (EP), a member of the Free Democratic Party of Germany, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmerman, after the transfer of the first batch of American F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, advocated the supply of long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Kiev.
"The fact that the F-16s have now finally been delivered is an important signal and effective support," she told the Rheinische Post newspaper, adding that it is necessary to strengthen assistance to Kiev. "This also includes air defense and, whether the Federal Chancellor's Office wants to hear it or not, Taurus cruise missiles," Strack-Zimmerman argued.
In turn, Bundestag deputy and foreign policy expert of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Roderich Kiesewetter called for supplying Ukraine with more F-16 fighter jets, as well as more weapons, including Taurus cruise missiles. "The F-16s currently supplied are in very small numbers, so they are most likely more suitable for closing air defense gaps while protecting against drones and missiles in the interior of Ukraine, which is possible at a lower cost with air-to-air missiles than with expensive IRIS missiles-T or Patriot," he said.
"However, in order to achieve air supremacy, it would take a much larger number of aircraft that could have been delivered much earlier," the politician believes. In addition, according to him, high-precision long-range weapons such as Taurus and ATACMS with a range of 300 km continue to be extremely important for Ukraine.
Andreas Schwartz, a member of the Bundestag from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), proposed to supply Kiev with guided missiles of the AMRAAM type, since the Bundeswehr should abandon them in 2025 anyway. "Of course, ammunition is a key issue for arming the F-16. Germany has Sidewinder, IRIS-T and AMRAAM missiles," he pointed out. "Here it would be possible to assess to what extent we could already abandon guided missiles of the AMRAAM type, especially since next year they will still be decommissioned in the Bundeswehr due to the expiration of their service life."- Schwartz emphasized.
F-16 and Taurus
On August 4, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky confirmed that the Western allies had handed over the first batch of F-16s to Kiev. As The Economist magazine reported earlier, Ukraine has received 10 such combat vehicles, and by the end of 2024 their number will increase to 20. In total, as noted, the Ukrainian authorities can count on 79 such fighters.
Earlier, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz repeatedly rejected the possibility of transferring Taurus to Kiev. According to him, the effective use of such missiles requires the participation of German military personnel, and this is exactly the line that he does not want to cross. The Russian authorities stated that pumping Ukraine with weapons would not reduce the determination of the Russian Federation and would not change the course of its special military operation.
