Last Friday, citing a government insider, a number of media reported on the new German government’s decision to significantly restrict the publication of information on the delivery of weapon systems to Ukraine in future.
The aim is to achieve “strategic ambiguity” in communication so that Russia no longer has any strategic advantages on the battlefield.
Based on the reporting, it was assumed that in particular the list of military support for Ukraine that the German government has maintained since mid-2022 would no longer be updated.
An assumption that caused a lot of criticism in the past few days. However, according to statements made by government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius and a spokesperson from the German Ministry of Defence at today’s government press conference, it now appears that things will turn out a bit differently.
Government spokesperson Kornelius initially confirmed that the details of the German assistance would no longer be communicated in the same form as before.
He referred to the ‘strategic ambiguity’ already mentioned in the media and said that it made very little sense for the opposing side in the war to learn the details of Germany’s support. Keeping quiet about details is a practice that is also used by other governments.
However, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence added that Germany would continue to announce which weapons and ammunition it supplies to Ukraine. However, there is of course a limit to this. On the one hand, there is an interest in information. On the other hand, aspects of military security must be considered.
Specifically, future confidentiality would involve, for example, the naming of quantities. By disclosing such details, the Russian aggressor could draw conclusions.
Just a few weeks ago, Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius publicly announced that the Ministry of Defence had made it possible to provide Ukraine with 30 Patriot missiles from Bundeswehr stocks.
Taking the new guidelines into account, in the future Pistorius is likely only to announce that further Patriot missiles will be made available to Ukraine — possibly with reference to their origin.
However, Taurus is a topic that the government wants to hold back about completely. The cruise missile with the designation Taurus KEPD-350 is not only a highly desired weapon system thanks to the blockade by former Chancellor Olaf Scholz, but also one that has been the subject of much discussion over the years.
Although Germany’s newly appointed Chancellor Friedrich Merz has repeatedly and vehemently debated about Taurus KEPD-350 while in opposition and criticised his predecessor for his decision not to deliver the cruise missile, he now wants to silence debates about the delivery himself.
The Ministry of Defence said that it was holding back on the subject for well-known reasons, for example for reasons of military security.
Interestingly, government spokesperson Kornelius nevertheless commented on the subject during the government press conference, but without directly mentioning Taurus in this context.
According to Kornelius, the German government is prepared to support Ukraine in the area of “long-range fire — i.e. cruise missiles with a certain range”. Decisions about this will be prepared and made in the coming days.
A decision on the delivery of Taurus KEPD-350s to Ukraine therefore appears to be imminent.
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