Kyiv has long wanted the missiles but Berlin has resisted openly committing to this for fear it would worsen tensions with nuclear-armed Russia.

When in opposition, Merz himself had committed to sending the missiles, but he has backed away from this since taking office last May.

Answering questions from lawmakers on Wednesday, Merz said that his original remarks had been made "in a different context", at a time when he "assumed that the Bundeswehr had a sufficient number of operational Taurus cruise missiles in its stocks that we could supply to Ukraine".

Furthermore he said that Ukraine's progress in domestic weapons development had rendered the debate over Taurus missiles moot.

"Today, Ukraine itself has long-range weapons in its depots, which it has built itself -- partly with our help -- and which are significantly more effective than the relatively small number of Taurus cruise missiles we could have delivered," Merz said.

"In terms of weapons technology, Ukraine has advanced far, far, far beyond what we were discussing back when this war began."

Merz said that while Ukraine was "better armed today than ever before", it had "considerable difficulties with financing".

"We need to mobilise money for Ukraine so that these weapons can continue to be produced".

Since the United States under President Donald Trump scaled back most of its support for Ukraine last year, Germany has become Kyiv's biggest backer and has significantly increased its military aid.

Berlin has pledged 11.5 billion euros in aid for 2026, including Iris?T air defence systems and Patriot batteries.