Termination of Germany’s military aid to Ukraine will cost Germany "much more" than its continuation - IfW
In case of a Russian victory in Ukraine, Germany's annual expenditures on defense, refugee influx, and trade losses will be about 10-20 times higher than Berlin's current support for Kyiv.
As Censor.NET informs, Tagesschau writes about this with reference to the November analysis of the Institute of World Economics in Kiel (IfW).
Analysts note that from February 2022 to August this year, Germany provided Ukraine with military assistance totaling 10.6 billion euros. This corresponds to an average of about 4 billion euros per year, or about 0.1 percent of Germany's gross domestic product (GDP).
In contrast, a victory by Russia in its aggressive war against Ukraine would lead to a significant increase in Germany's costs due to higher defense spending, additional refugee arrivals, and a loss of trade and investment with Ukraine, the report says. According to the authors, under this scenario, Germany's annual expenditures would amount to 1 to 2 percent of GDP, which is about 10 to 20 times more than the current military support to Kyiv.
German military assistance and training of the Ukrainian military
In total, since February 2022, Germany has transferred to Ukraine weapons and equipment from the Bundeswehr's stockpile, which is estimated to be worth 5.2 billion euros. The entire list of military assistance provided by Germany is posted on a special website of the German Ministry of Defense. On October 17 this year, the German government updated the data on arms supplies to Ukraine for the last time.
Thus, over the entire period, 18 Leopard 2A6 tanks and 88 Leopard 1 A5 tanks were delivered. Kyiv also received 140 Marder infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) and 54 M113 armored personnel carriers. In addition, Berlin supplied Ukraine with PzH 2000 self-propelled artillery systems (SAU) with spare parts, MARS and HIMARS MLRS, Patriot air defense systems, IRIS-T SLM and IRIS-T SLS air defense systems, Gepard and SKYNEX cannon anti-aircraft systems, Stinger and Strela-2 man-portable air defense systems, various armored vehicles, fuel tankers, military trucks, anti-tank grenade launchers, radars, small arms, etc. Regular supplies of ammunition from Germany were equally important for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
It is noteworthy that the AFU receives weapons not only from the Bundeswehr's stocks, but also from the stocks of German manufacturing companies. However, orders for the repair and restoration of this equipment come from the German government.
In addition, more than 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers have undergone military training in Germany. The cost of this training, according to Berlin, was about 282 million euros as of October. Additional costs, for which the German government did not give specific figures, are associated with the treatment of wounded Ukrainian soldiers.
