Oliver Towfigh Nia
10 January 2025•Update: 11 January 2025
BERLIN
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is blocking a multi-billion euro financial aid package for Ukraine amid differences with his Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel reported Friday.
According to the information, Baerbock and Pistorius want to mobilize an additional budget of around €3 billion ($3.09 billion) urgently needed for further arms deliveries to Ukraine before the Feb. 23 general elections in Germany, however, Scholz believes that this is unnecessary.
Both ministers had already started putting together the new aid package for Ukraine after the November collapse of the center-left government coalition comprising Social Democrats, Greens, and Free Democrats.
The military experts in the Ukraine staff of the Defense Ministry drew up a list of much-needed weapon systems, including three additional Iris-T anti-aircraft batteries plus ammunition, additional Patriot guided missiles, 10 wheeled howitzers, and additional artillery ammunition.
Baerbock and Pistorius argue that the commitment would be an important signal to Kyiv that German military aid will not dry up as Ukraine’s military position in the war with Russia has significantly worsened in recent months.
It also remains unclear whether the US will continue to support Ukraine militarily after President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
After the turn of the year, however, the plan came to a halt. The chancellery informally signaled to both ministries that it did not support the idea of an additional billion-dollar budget.
According to the Der Spiegel report, the chancellery justified its veto against the €3-billion plan by saying that it did not want to present the future federal government with a fait accompli.
Scholz saw reportedly no urgent need for action, arguing that Kyiv still has sufficient funds from Germany available for this year. The provisional budget for 2025 provides around €4 billion for military aid, and that Ukraine can draw on another loan pool, the $50 billion loan provided by the G7 countries, which is financed by proceeds from frozen Russian state assets.
Since the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022, Germany has delivered or earmarked €28 billion worth of weapons to Kyiv, according to official figures.
The German military assistance included advanced weapons and equipment such as Leopard 2 battle tanks, Gepard anti-aircraft tanks, Marder combat vehicles, and Patriot and Iris-T air defense systems.
