German Defence Ministry hopes government approves additional hundreds of millions of euros for Ukraine

Boris Pistorius, Minister of Defence of Germany, hopes that the German federal government approves supplementary funds for the supply of armament to Ukraine. Source: European Pravda with reference to Spiegel Details: During his visit to the German town of Saarlouis, Pistorius stated that the negotiations regarding the EUR7.5 billion increase of current budget for 2024 for Ukraine are "promising" and are likely to finish by the end of the week. "Then we will talk about a considerable amount of hundreds of millions of euros," Pistorius said, referring to the amount that may be allocated for further military aid for Ukraine.

Starting from the NATO summit in July 2024, Pistorius warned that the billions from the budget, provided for the military assistance for Ukraine, were already used up to a considerable extent.

So he publicly urged the German government to increase this year's budget. Pistorius did not want to reveal on 17 September how much money would be allocated by the German government this time. Spiegel reports that his ministry hopes to receive almost EUR500 million more.

This would allow them to order at least very urgent packages of spare parts, without which the armament systems already delivered to Ukraine from Germany cannot be prepared for further use in the combat zone. Spiegel reports that some time ago Pistorius presented a list, which provided for additional needs of up to EUR4 billion for 2024 alone, in the government. The minister wants to use this money to supply Ukraine with more ammunition, urgently needed spare parts for already delivered armament systems, as well as a larger quantity of the Leopard 1A5 tanks.

However, Christian Lindner, Minister of Finances of Germany, urged the federal government to save money. He also hinted a few times that the office of Pistorius did not submit specific lists of what Ukraine urgently needed.

The increase of German funding would be a success for Ukraine, even if it was significantly smaller than the really needed EUR4 billion. It is not just because Kyiv is concerned that, due to a dire financial situation, Germany might stop providing military support for Ukraine.

Since Berlin is the second biggest partner of Kyiv at the moment, other allies, such as the US, the UK and other European countries worry that a kind of the domino effect might occur. Earlier German media reported that the current budget planning of the German federal government did not provide additional funds for the support of Ukraine, and additional applications of the Ministry of Defence of Germany regarding the military aid for Ukraine would no longer be approved on the chancellor's demand. At the same time the German government denied its intention to shorten the military assistance for Ukraine.

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