Germany is ready - sending powerful weapons to Ukraine? This could drive Russia and Crimea apart

Also, Friedrich Merz condemned the Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday. He said it was a "serious war crime" and that Kyiv needed help to advance in the war.

When asked if Germany would send Taurus missiles to Ukraine, which Kyiv has long requested, he said he would be ready to do so if it was carried out in coordination with European allies.

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"Our European partners are already delivering cruise missiles. The British are doing it, the French are doing it, and the Americans are doing it anyway," he said in an interview with ARD television.

"Putin will not respond positively"

"This has to be mutually agreed upon. And if an agreement is reached, then Germany should also participate."

Regarding US President Donald Trump's attempt to push through a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, Merz warned that Putin will not "respond positively to offers of weakness and peace."

He said that the attack on Sumy, in which at least 34 civilians were killed and 117 wounded, "is what Putin is doing to those who mention the ceasefire to him."

"At some point, Putin has to realize that this war is hopeless, which means we have to help Ukraine," Merz said.

Outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly rejected Kyiv's pleas to provide Ukraine's defense forces with Taurus missiles, which have an intelligent warhead system and are capable of inflicting massive damage on structures such as bridges and bunkers.

Powerful Taurus

The Taurus system is a joint venture between European missile maker MBDA and Sweden's Saab, and with a range of 500 km, it is longer than the British and French-supplied Storm Shadows and the US-supplied military tactical missile system.

Ukrainian armed forces could attack Tauruses deep behind the front lines.

Scholz previously said that supplying Kyiv with Taurus missiles would carry a "high risk of escalation" in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

But Merz, the leader of the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU), criticized this stance and called on Scholz last October to issue an ultimatum to Putin and promise to deliver weapons within 24 hours if attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine stopped.

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However, Merz toned down his rhetoric during the election campaign, during which Scholz sought to present himself as a "peace chancellor" who would protect Germany from being drawn into the Ukrainian conflict.

Merz also had to deal with the rise in popularity of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which supports reducing tensions with Moscow.

However, Merz indicated on Sunday that he was not only ready to deliver the Taurus missiles, but also suggested that they could be used to attack targets such as the Kerch bridge linking Russia to Crimea, which is seen as a symbol of Putin's occupation of the peninsula.

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It is not yet known what Merz's coalition partners from the Social Democrats (SPD) will say about all this and whether they will support the delivery of the Taurus.

The SPD's Lars Klingbeil vowed to side with "brave Ukrainians" as he and Merz announced a coalition deal.

But Klingbeil will have to hold serious talks with members of his parliamentary party about the conflict in Ukraine, in order to decide this week whether or not to approve a coalition deal.