Germany's Defense Ministry warned there could be insufficient funds for military aid for Ukraine in 2024 amid the latter's continuous fight against Russian aggression.
The country's government said it has not budgeted enough funds to provide additional military support for the European nation. The announcement was made in an Oct. 22 report that cited a confidential Defense Ministry memo.
Germany's Financial Assistance for Ukraine
The 2024 budget is set to be approved in mid-November, but the German Defense Ministry was concerned that the current draft budget only leaves $127.2 million for military support for Ukraine after removing existing commitments.
The situation comes despite the Finance Ministry already earmarking $4.2 billion for military support for the embattled European nation next year. However, the Defense Ministry calculated that $3.3 billion will instead go to already announced projects.
Roughly $826 million will go to the Foreign Ministry's aid program, leaving only a little more than $120 million for new military aid support for Kyiv in 2024. But the German Defense Ministry said that it expects to need billions more to meet Ukraine's needs for military support, as per Yahoo News.
The required assistance is broken down to $932 million for air defense, $715 million for armored combat vehicles, $413 million for combat engineering, $990 million for protective equipment, and $2.48 billion for repairs, spare parts, and logistics.
In a statement, the MP responsible for the defense budget in the German parliament's budget committee, Andreas Schwarz, said that Ukraine must be able to rely on his country's commitments. He said that this must not be the case when it comes to Kyiv's aid next year.
Officials are still negotiating to finalize the budget. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said in August that the country plans to provide Ukraine with $5.3 billion in annual military aid until 2027.
Military Aid for Ukraine
The situation comes as the state secretary in Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Jochen Flasbarth, announced that the country will allocate an additional $211 million for the recovery of Ukraine, according to UkrInform.
Flasbarth said that the intended funds are to be used for education, healthcare, the supply of drinking water, and the reconstruction of cities. The official noted that since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Ministry has already allocated roughly $1.06 billion for civilian support.
Vice Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine - Minister for Communities and Territories Development and Infrastructure Development Oleksandr Kubrakov posted on X, formerly Twitter. He said that the meeting with the German official was productive and that they were able to review the main progress of the two nations' cooperation.
The air defense systems that Germany will send to Ukraine include a Patriot air defense system and two IRIS-T surface-to-air systems. Defense News said the package would also provide Kyiv with ten more Leopard 1 A5 main battle tanks, three Gepard anti-aircraft guns, armored trucks, and ambulances.
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