Germany to Allocate Additional €4bn for Weapons for Ukraine

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has asked the country's Ministry of Finance to provide an additional 4 billion euros for military support to Ukraine in 2024, Spiegel reports.

According to the publication, about 7 billion euros allocated in the current federal budget to support Kyiv have already been largely used or are subject to contractual obligations. 

Only slightly less than 200,000 euros remain for new deliveries in the second half of 2024. Pistorius therefore asked Finance Minister Christian Lindner for additional funds.

Pistorius unofficially informed Lindner that the budget for arms aid to Ukraine should be increased by another 4 billion euros in the second half of 2024. 

According to the newspaper, Pistorius wants to use the fresh money to provide Ukraine with more ammunition, urgently needed spare parts and possibly more Leopard 1A tanks this year. 

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Lindner has called on the federal government to be frugal. Excessive spending, such as an additional 4 billion for Ukraine, is likely to be unpalatable to him. However, the Ministry of Defence believes that the supply of ammunition and spare parts is necessary to ensure that Ukraine can continue to defend itself against Russia.

During his visit to the troops in Alaska, Pistorius did not want to go into details of internal negotiations with Lindner, but only indirectly confirmed conversations with him about new money. 

"We are now working on mobilising additional funds so that we can continue our activities this year," the minister said.

Without fresh money, the supplies from Germany, which have been started so far, are likely to stop in late autumn at the latest, the newspaper writes.

Only a few days ago, the German government announced that the third Patriot air defence system from the German armed forces had arrived in Ukraine.

A few weeks ago, the minister also announced that Berlin would provide Ukraine with additional artillery ammunition and 100 guided missiles for the Patriot system.