Germany Reduced Request of Ministry of Defense for Assistance to Ukraine by More Than €10 Billion

The German government has reduced the budget request of the German Federal Ministry of Defence for military assistance to Ukraine by more than €10 billion in 2026 and 2027. €18 billion will be allocated instead of the €28.6 billion requested by the military.

This is reported by BILD with reference to an official document of the Federal Ministry of Defence sent to the members of the Bundestag.

According to BILD, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius requested €5.8 billion for 2026 and €12.8 billion for 2027. However, the Ministry of Finance and the government approved funding at the level of €9 billion per year. Of this, 500 million will come in the form of reimbursements from EU funds.

This means that Pistorius suddenly lacks €10.6 billion for the partially promised programs of cooperation with Ukraine’s defense industry. Now, the planned contracts will have to be suspended, and measures to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces will have to be canceled or reduced.

“In order to meet the €9 billion target, no additional industrial support was allocated for Ukraine in 2026. Contracts concluded in 2026 and financed from 2026 funds were canceled. In addition, activities under contracts concluded in 2026 with payment in 2027 had to be partially canceled or adjusted,” the document says.

According to the publication, the government’s official position is that “Germany will continue to supply Ukraine with exactly what Ukraine needs in the coming years. And they are “not aware of any additional needs for military support.”

The Ministry of Defense sent this 464-page document, titled “Preliminary Discussions on the Defense Budget 2025 with Speakers of the Bundestag Budget Committee for October 6th, 2025,” to MPs on August 22nd.

“Friedrich Merz announced a completely different course, but now he is acting like his predecessor against the Minister of Defence. There are no more excuses: the amendments to the Basic Law allow for financing this support, so nothing needs to be cut from the budget,” said Sebastian Schäfer, a member of the Green Party.

In response to BILD’s request, the representatives of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Finance stated in identical responses that the indicators taken into account in the budget preparation process had been jointly agreed upon by the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Defense. However, the ministries did not provide an explanation for the contradictions with the document cited by BILD.

As a reminder, in early September, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius announced the launch of a new initiative to purchase long-range drones together with the Ukrainian defense industry worth €300 million.

According to Pistorius, the goal of the initiative is to enhance Ukraine’s ability to strike deep behind enemy lines and strengthen its defense.

The contracts will be flexible and provide for the possibility of increasing the number of purchased drones and involving other countries.