Whereas there is no official confirmation of the New York Times report, still, leading representatives of the war party in Europe welcomed the Biden decision to approve Ukraine making deep strikes into Russia with U.S. missiles. The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said it was the right decision, and he was certain that a release by the EU states would now be discussed again. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) also welcomed the news, saying on Brandenberg’s RBB radio that it was important that Russian missile bases can now also be destroyed. She claimed that it was covered by the right to self-defense, adding that it had long been known that the Greens “see this in the same way as our Eastern European partners, the British, the French and the Americans.” German MEP Agnes-Marie Strack-Zimmermann, Chairwoman of the EU Parliament Defense Committee, a notoriously hawkish Free Democrat, described the U.S. decision as long overdue, in an interview on Deutschlandfunk radio.
In this context, the issue of whether Germany should deliver its Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine was brought up again. The Free Democrats announced that it will introduce a motion into the Bundestag to vote in favor of the Taurus delivery. Also German Economics Minister and Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens), after his party nominated him as Chancellor candidate, told on German Channel 1 television (ARD) last night that, if he were Chancellor, he would approve the Taurus delivery.
