Germany could limit military aid to Ukraine – Bild
Germany’s ability to maintain a “continuous supply” of weapons to Ukraine is in jeopardy due to budget constraints, according to communications between the Finance Ministry and the Bundeswehr cited by Bild newspaper on Sunday.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner reached out to Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock to stress that Germany’s budget cannot accommodate further financing for Kiev, and that no new unapproved military aid packages can be delivered, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported earlier this week.
However, Lindner would consider “short-term provision of funds” to Kiev, as long as the requests are “specifically reported and comprehensible,” the ministry told Bild. But since no “concrete notification of need” has been communicated, “no examination or decision can be made.”
In response, the Defense Ministry reportedly accused Lindner of “changing the rules of the game after the game has started,” which “jeopardizes the continuous supply of all weapons systems handed over to Ukraine,” Bild wrote.
According to a source cited by the newspaper, due to Lindner’s demands, there are currently “more than 30 high-priority measures” of support for Kiev that “cannot be pursued further.”
The Defense Ministry originally presented a proposal for “unscheduled expenditure” of €3.87 billion ($4.27 billion) for Ukraine in May, Bild stated. The package reportedly included spare parts, artillery shells, drones, and armored vehicles. However, three months later, a significant portion of that materiel has already been sold elsewhere, meaning that even if approved, the industry has nothing to send to Ukraine right away, Bild reported.
Berlin, Ukraine’s second-largest war sponsor, has allocated or pledged at least €28 billion to Kiev since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s administration has reportedly pressured Lindner to suspend Germany’s “debt brake” amid the country’s struggle with a massive €60 billion budget deficit.
Lindner hopes to cover Ukrainian needs using the windfall profits from the $300 billion of Russian assets frozen by G7 nations. In May, Brussels approved a plan to use interest generated by the immobilized funds to support Kiev.
Moscow considers the conflict to be a proxy war against Russia by the US and its allies, and has condemned any attempts to expropriate and misuse its sovereign assets as “theft,” and has promised retaliatory measures.
