The German government has denied that Germany will cut aid to Ukraine due to budget constraints.
“Germany remains fully committed and Chancellor (Olaf Scholz) says that we will continue to support Ukraine as long as necessary. No one, and certainly not the Russian President (Vladimir Putin), can hope that we will slow down in this regard,” Wolfgang Büchner, deputy government spokesman, said in Berlin on Monday.
He said there will be no change in the determination to support Ukraine, which must repel a full-scale invasion by Russia.
Four more IRIS-T air defence systems are to be delivered this year, together with 10 Gepard (Cheetah) anti-aircraft tanks, 16 self-propelled howitzers, 10 Leopard main battle tanks, combat drones and several thousand pieces of artillery and tank ammunition.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner previously wrote in a letter to Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock that “new measures” regarding payment obligations should only be taken if “financing is secured” in the budget plans for this and the following years.
This year, Germany is providing nearly €7.5 billion ($8.3 billion) in military aid to Ukraine. The government has set aside €4 billion for 2025.
However, the resources can still be increased in the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, as has also happened for 2024.
In addition, the federal government expects that Ukraine will increasingly be supported in the future with interest from frozen Russian state assets. However, this aid has not yet been fully secured internationally.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said during a visit to Hungary on Monday that Berlin would not cut aid to Kiev and said he expected “Germany to remain one of the biggest supporters of Ukraine in Europe.”
