Germany wants to increase military aid to Ukraine to more than 15 billion euros - Spiegel
Berlin wants to increase aid to Ukraine fivefold: from 3 to more than 15 billion euros.
This is stated by Spiegel, reports Censor.NЕТ with reference to "European truth".
The publication has obtained access to a confidential letter from the Ministry of Finance to the Bundestag Budget Committee.
In the letter, Free Democratic Party member Florian Tonkar, parliamentary state secretary to Finance Minister Christian Lindner, asks parliamentarians to allocate more money.
The essence of the letter is that the federal government wants to dramatically expand military aid to Ukraine in the coming years. To do so, it needs the approval of the budget committee, but it will not refuse: with the exception of the Left and Alternative for Germany, there is a cross-party majority in the Bundestag in support of Ukraine.
"Due to the high material losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, new supplies of material resources are needed. To ensure that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are equipped in accordance with their needs, it is necessary to immediately conclude numerous procurement contracts that also establish payment obligations for future financial years," the Ministry of Finance said.
These include materials "in the field of air defense, armored tracked vehicles, ammunition for weapons systems supplied by Germany, and artillery," the letter to the Budget Committee reads.
The additional costs are "objectively inevitable," the secretary of state writes, "as there is a serious risk that without Germany's continued support, Ukraine will lose its defense struggle against the Russian aggressor, with unpredictable consequences for the European peace order."
In the current fiscal year, Berlin has allocated 2.2 billion euros for "modernization of partner countries in the areas of security, defense and stabilization." The Ministry of Defense uses this money to pay for a significant portion of weapons supplies to Ukraine, as well as to replace systems that were transferred from the Bundeswehr.
This year, this amount is to be more than doubled - by EUR 3.2 billion to more than EUR 5.4 billion.
But that's not all. In the coming years, another 8.8 billion euros will be allocated for "authorizations to commit". This means that the Ministry of Defense can sign contracts for the corresponding amount. So far, only one billion euros have been allocated for this purpose. Overall, aid to Ukraine will be increased from the current 3.2 billion euros to more than 15 billion euros.
At a closed session on Tuesday, members of parliament are to decide what the additional money will be used for. The large-scale increase in aid surprised many of them, and in a positive way.
As reported, German Leopard 2 tanks have already arrived in Ukraine.
