The German government has refuted claims that Germany will limit its support for Ukraine due to budgetary constraints.
“Germany remains absolutely committed, and Chancellor [Olaf Scholz’s] word holds that support for Ukraine will continue as long as necessary, and that no one, especially not the Russian President [Vladimir Putin], can hope that we will ease off in this,” deputy government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner said in Berlin on Monday.
He said there will be no change in the determination to support Ukraine, which is fending off a full-scale invasion by Russia.
This year, four IRIS-T air-defence systems are still to be delivered, along with 10 Gepard (Cheetah) anti-aircraft tanks, 16 self-propelled howitzers, 10 Leopard battle tanks, combat drones and several thousand rounds of artillery and tank ammunition.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner earlier wrote in a letter to Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock that “new measures” involving payment obligations should only be undertaken if “funding is secured” in the budget plans for this and the following years.
This year, Germany is providing nearly €7.5 billion ($8.3 billion) for military support to Ukraine. For 2025, the government has earmarked €4 billion.
However, the funds can still be increased in the lower house of parliament, or Bundestag, as was done for 2024.
Additionally, the federal government is relying on the possibility that Ukraine can be increasingly 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 while on 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.”
