BERLIN

Germany, alongside other NATO allies, has agreed to finance one of the first US weapons and ammunition packages for Ukraine worth up to $500 million, the Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday.

The announcement came following a video conference meeting of the leaders of the "Coalition of the Willing," a group of nations committed to supporting Ukraine. The meeting was co-chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

“We thank the United States for its willingness to continue supplying weapons and ammunition to Ukraine and welcome the recently announced contributions from allies in this regard,” the ministry said in a statement. "With the decision to participate in the initiative, we underscore our commitment to substantially strengthening and reliably continuing our support for Ukraine and to alliance solidarity.”

Under the newly established PURL (Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List) mechanism, NATO will coordinate the implementation of the deliveries while ensuring they address Ukraine's most urgent military needs. The funding will come from European partners and Canada.

"The support packages will include military goods that are either not produced by European industry or can be delivered faster by the US than by European partners or Canada in the intended scope," the statement explained. “This includes, for example, critical air defense capabilities. These are urgently needed to counter the ongoing Russian airstrikes that are killing increasing numbers of civilians throughout Ukraine.”

US President Donald Trump initially announced in early July that he would pause arms supplies to Ukraine. However, he later changed his position, with the condition that European countries would finance the military aid.

According to official figures, Germany stands as Ukraine's largest military supporter in Europe, having provided total aid of €40 billion ($46.8 billion) since 2022. This support includes various advanced weapons and military equipment such as Leopard 2 battle tanks, Gepard anti-aircraft tanks, Marder combat vehicles, Patriot and IRIS-T air defense systems.