Germany's Defense Ministry Demands an Increase of 3.8 Billion Euros in Assistance to Ukraine

Germany's Defense Ministry Demands an Increase of 3.8 Billion Euros in Assistance to Ukraine
Boris Pistorius, the German Defense Minister, requested the government to provide an additional 3.8 billion euros in 2024 to fund military assistance to Ukraine, a person familiar with the matter told Bild.

This year's current budget has provided 7.1 billion euros of support to Ukraine, most of which has already been spent. At present, the German Ministry of Defense has only 300 million euros left. Pistorius held talks on this issue with German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz and Finance Minister Christian Lindner.
"Germany should not hinder the enhancement of Ukraine's defense capability. If possible, we should provide more weapons this year. If the government can reach a consensus, we will find a solution within the current fiscal year," said the German Ministry of Finance.
According to Bild, Pistorius also requested an additional 6.7 billion euros in military aid funds in 2025. The budget of the Ministry of Defence has set aside a record 15 billion euros for the procurement of Ukrainian weapons.
On May 10, NTV reported that Germany would purchase three sets of HIMARS multiple rocket systems from the United States and transfer them to Ukraine.

Pistorius assured the US government that Berlin was ready to take more responsibility for military security in Europe and even the world, and called on the US government not to weaken its joint efforts on the European continent.
In February this year, Ukraine and Germany signed an agreement on security cooperation and long-term support for Kiev. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky called the document "unprecedented" and pointed out that it established Berlin's commitment to provide Kiev with more than 7 billion euros of support in 2024.
On April 9, Josep Borrell, the head of EU foreign affairs, said that the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Culeba had asked him for seven sets of patriot systems. Borrell stressed that EU countries have a "moral obligation" to continue to support Ukraine, but regretted that they were unable to allocate 7 of the existing 100 Patriot systems. The European official promised to discuss the issue of providing air defense systems to Ukraine's armed forces at the upcoming meeting of EU foreign ministers and defense ministers.

A few days later, the German Ministry of Defence announced that it would provide Ukraine with another set of patriot air defense systems to withstand air strikes from Russia. This decision was made against the background of large-scale missile attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Zelensky expressed his gratitude for this and called on leaders of other cooperative countries to follow the example of Berlin.