Germany plans to allocate over EUR 1 billion as military assistance to Ukraine.

Reported by Militarnyi.

Christian Lindner, German Finance Minister, stated on April 15 that the German government is planning to increase its budget for military aid for other countries to EUR 2 billion. A significant part of these funds will go to Ukraine.

Die Medienberichte sind zutreffend: Im #Ergänzungshaushalt wird die militärische #Ertüchtigungshilfe auf 2 Milliarden Euro angehoben. Die Mittel kommen weit überwiegend der #Ukraine zugute. Der @Bundeskanzler hatte dies frühzeitig angefordert. CL

— Christian Lindner (@c_lindner) April 15, 2022

German media report that Ukraine could be receiving over EUR 1 billion out of this amount.

At the same time, the German government continues to provide contradictory estimations of the prospects for the supply of weapons to Ukraine.

On April 14, 2022, Robert Habeck, Germany’s Vice-Chancellor has given up his previous statements requesting to send tanks to Ukraine. It was reported by Politico. The reasons for this included the differences within the government coalition and the fear of Russia. In his speech at a pre-election rally in the city of Kiel, he stated that he was afraid that Russia would be perceiving the supply of tanks as a reason to expand its aggression to the West.

Habeck said that the decision to supply tanks and other heavy weapons should be taken jointly by all the NATO countries.

Instead, Marco Buschmann, Minister of Justice of Germany, claimed that under international law, the supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine would not mean joining the war against Russia. European Pravda writes about this with reference to the German media.

Ukraine is waging a permitted defense war against Russia, said the FDP (Free Democratic Party – ed.) politician. “So if they exercise their legal right to self-defense, supporting them by supplying weapons cannot lead to becoming a participant in the war,” Buschmann said.

This is not only his private opinion but also the view of the Federal Government, the Minister said.

Militarnyi has previously reported the intention of German companies to supply Ukraine with Leopard 1A5 tanks, Marder IFVs, and 155mm PzH 2000 ACSs.