Andreas Schwarz, a member of the German Parliament from the ruling Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and defence budget speaker in the Bundestag Budget Committee, has called on Berlin to supply long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine.

Schwarz said in an interview with Spiegel that "the counteroffensive is slipping, and Ukraine does not have a significant air force to support it", so he is convinced that "only guided missiles such as the Taurus are left, with the help of which the Ukrainian army could cross the minefields laid by the Russians and win their territory back".

"I see that we are in for a déjà vu. As with the issue of tanks, we are now refusing to supply important equipment which will probably be provided later anyway," Schwarz added.

The SPD MP also rejected the argument that the Ukrainian army could strike Russian territory with these missiles, recalling that "even with the already deployed MARS and HIMARS artillery systems, the Ukrainians can reach Russian territory, which they have so far managed to avoid."

"We want Ukraine to be able to win the war faster. For this, it needs Taurus air-to-surface class systems," Schwarz summed up.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has once again spoken out against the supply of long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine.

Before that, German politicians from the opposition and coalition parties had called on the government to supply Ukraine with Taurus long-range cruise missiles.

At the end of May, Ukraine officially asked Germany to provide it with Taurus cruise missiles with a range of up to 500 kilometres.