President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Ukraine is interested in acquiring German long-range cruise missiles Taurus to destroy Russian launch sites from which strikes are carried out on Ukrainian cities. According to him, such weapons are necessary to protect the population in conditions of a shortage of interceptor missiles.
The head of state said this in an interview with the German television channel ZDF. The corresponding fragment of the conversation was published on November 5 on the official Telegram channel of the president.
Zelensky explained the interest in Taurus by the lack of means to intercept Russian ballistic missiles. According to him, when Ukraine cannot get the necessary number of anti-missiles from the USA, one of the ways of defense is destroying the means by which Russia carries out shelling.
"When the Americans could not give us anti-ballistic missiles for air defense, we have only one way out: to destroy Russian launch sites," — the president said.
Zelensky emphasized that this refers specifically to military targets used by the Russian army for strikes on Ukraine, not to civilian infrastructure or energy facilities.
The president also said that Ukraine would like not only to order German missiles, but also to test them in real combat conditions. In his opinion, such cooperation would be beneficial to both sides.
As an example of successful interaction with the German defense industry, Zelensky cited the IRIS-T anti-aircraft systems, which Ukraine actively uses for air defense.
According to the president, the use of IRIS-T in Ukraine allowed German manufacturers to improve the weapons and significantly increased international demand for these systems.
Zelensky claims that orders for German air defense means are now scheduled for 10–20 years ahead. He noted that increasing weapons production means additional jobs and economic opportunities for Germany.
Thus, the Ukrainian president considers purchases of German weapons not only as necessary military support, but also as mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.
Taurus cruise missiles are capable of hitting targets at a distance of more than 500 kilometers. This is aviation weapons designed for high-precision strikes on protected military targets.
Ukraine has been seeking these missiles since 2023. However, Germany has not publicly announced a decision to transfer them to Kyiv.
In October 2026, Zelensky again raised the Taurus issue during negotiations with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. At that time, the president stated that he continues to count on a positive decision from Berlin.
Earlier, Merz allowed the possibility of providing such weapons, but did not name specific deadlines and conditions of delivery.
The current statement by Zelensky also does not mean a new agreement has been reached. No reports have yet been made about signing a contract for the purchase of Taurus or agreement on supplies by the German government.
