BERLIN

A majority of Germans are against the delivery of powerful Taurus missiles to Ukraine, a new poll said on Wednesday.

The survey found that 58% of the Germans opposed providing Ukraine with the long-range Taurus missiles, while only 28% spoke in favor of the idea.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s opposition to the deployment of German troops in Ukraine was also supported by the majority of voters.

Some 72% of those surveyed said Scholz did the right thing last week by clearly opposing to the troops deployment. Only 16% said the German government should keep this option open.

The poll was commissioned by the German press agency DPA and conducted by YouGov between March 1 and 5 among a nationally representative sample of 2,169 people.

French President Emmanuel Macron surprised European capitals last week by suggesting that Western troops may be deployed to Ukraine, in order to support Ukrainians in defending their country against Russia.

Chancellor Scholz immediately turned down Macron’s suggestion, and reaffirmed his long-held position that the Western allies should refrain from any steps that could lead to a direct conflict between NATO and Russia.

The Social Democrat politician also made it clear last week that he would not approve the delivery German-made Taurus missiles to Ukraine, as they would necessitate assigning German soldiers for this mission or deploying them in Ukraine.

But senior lawmakers from his coalition partners the Greens, and the liberal FDP, have openly criticized Scholz’s stance, and called on the chancellor to reconsider his approach, and provide Ukraine with much-needed Taurus missiles.

The powerful cruise missiles have a range of more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) and are well known for their success in properly targeting objects, including bridges, or hard and deeply buried targets, such as command bunkers.