The German government is considering the possibility of supplying Ukraine with long-range Taurus cruise missiles from the Bundeswehr stockpile in the coming months.

Spiegel with reference to its sources reported that classified talks with representatives of the defence industry are currently underway, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to make technical modifications to the missiles to prevent Kyiv from striking Russian territory other than Russian-occupied Crimea.

It is noted that Scholz is "very concerned" about the escalation of the war, while the office of Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has asked the Taurus manufacturer to integrate a corresponding restriction for target programming into the missiles.

Spiegel stated that Scholz will not approve the delivery of the missiles until he is convinced of their technical modification. Industry circles said that such a limitation of the system's operation is quite possible, but will take several weeks.

Sources say that while previously the German Chancellor was ready to provide Taurus only on the condition that the US would supply its long-range ATACMS missiles to Kyiv, this condition no longer plays a major role.

Earlier, it was reported that the German government may soon decide to provide Ukraine with long-range Taurus cruise missiles capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 500 kilometres.

The Biden administration has so far refused to supply ATACMS missiles. But a change of course in Washington may also be imminent.