Germany plans to halve military aid for Ukraine
Germany plans to nearly halve its military aid to Ukraine next year, reducing it from around €8bn (£6.7bn; $8.7bn) to approximately €4bn, according to a draft budget approved by the government.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner stated that Ukraine’s funding is “secure for the foreseeable future” thanks to a G7 initiative to generate $50bn from interest on frozen Russian assets.
Germany is Ukraine’s second-largest military donor, after the US. For 2024, Berlin has allocated nearly €7.5bn to Kyiv.
The proposed aid reduction comes amid concerns in Ukraine and among its European allies that US funding might be reduced or halted if Donald Trump wins the presidency in the November election.
Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The draft budget was approved by the German government on Wednesday.
While military aid to Ukraine is set to decrease, the defense budget for 2025 will increase by €1.3bn to €53.25bn.
This is still less than the €6bn for which Defence Minister Boris Pistorius had been pushing.
Overall, Germany is planning to meet the target of 2% GDP spending on defence as required by the Nato alliance.
The defence budget still needs to be approved by lawmakers.
In other developments:
- Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday carried out the latest swap of prisoners of war, with each side receiving back 95 military personnel. The United Arab Emirates facilitated the exchange
- A source in Ukraine’s military confirmed to the BBC that Ukrainian troops had withdrawn from the village of Krynky – a key foothold on the Russian-occupied eastern bank of the Dnipro river in the southern Kherson region. But the source added that Ukraine’s operations in the area continued
- Britain’s new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will host some 45 European leaders on Thursday at a summit he hopes will begin to reset London’s relationship with the continent. The gathering of the European Political Community (EPC) will also give leaders a chance to reaffirm support for Ukraine.
