Germany to Halve Military Aid to Ukraine
Germany will nearly halve the amount of military aid it will provide to Ukraine next year, according to a draft budget approved by the government on Wednesday....
0:00
/1861
Facts
- Germany will nearly halve the amount of military aid it will provide to Ukraine next year, according to a draft budget approved by the government on Wednesday.1
- While the 2025 budget still needs to be approved by lawmakers, the amount of German money going to Ukraine under current plans will go from roughly €7.5B ($8.2B) this year to around €4B ($4.37B) next year.1
- In a press conference, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said Ukraine should be able to meet the bulk of its military needs from a plan approved by the Group of Seven (G7) nations that will provide Ukraine with $50B in loans generated from interest on frozen Russian assets.2
- 'Ukraine's financing is secured for the foreseeable future thanks to European instruments and the G7 loans,' Lindner said.2
- Elsewhere in the budget, the German defense ministry is being forced to cut 2025 ammunition orders by more than half, decrease procurement by €260M ($284.2M), and reduce research and development by over €200M ($218.6M).3
- Nonetheless, the overall defense budget will go up by €1.3B ($1.42B) to roughly €53.3B ($58.3B) and Germany is expected to meet the NATO target of spending 2% of its gross domestic product on defense spending.1
Sources: 1BBC News, 2Reuters and 3Yahoo News.
Narratives
- Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Reuters. While Germany is cutting the funds it's allocating to Ukraine, Ukraine will be able to meet its military needs via the $50B loan from the G7 soon coming its way as well as from other European instruments.
- Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by POLITICO. This is another instance where Germany makes large promises to Ukraine, only for it to turn out that those promises were hollow and meaningless. This is an unacceptable position from the German government.
