The German government plans to transfer dozens of Leopard tanks, air defense systems and hundreds of armored vehicles to Ukraine by the end of 2024.
Major General Christian Freuding, who is a member of the special staff for Ukrainian affairs at the German Ministry of Defense, told about this in an interview with Nachgefragt.
He noted that this year the volume of German military aid to Ukraine will reach €6.5-7 billion. Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine has received €28 billion worth of military equipment, the general said.
By the end of 2024, Germany plans to transfer to Ukraine:
- 2 IRIS-T SLM medium-range air defense batteries;
- 2 batteries of the IRIS-T SLS short-range air defense system;
- 10 Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns;
- 12 self-propelled guns PzH 2000;
- 4 self-propelled guns Zuzana 2;
- approximately 30 Leopard 1A5 tanks;
- 400 MRAP armored military vehicles.
Also, Germany will transfer to Ukraine an unspecified amount of small arms, ammunition, drones and anti-drone systems, a field hospital and other means.
- In mid-July, Reuters wrote that Germanyʼs draft budget for 2025 calls for €4 billion in military aid to Ukraine instead of roughly €8 billion in 2024. This is probably due to the slow recovery of the economy after that yearʼs recession, which Germany overcame at the beginning of the year.
- At the same time, in the German draft budget for 2024, too little money was allocated for Ukraine, there was more than €5 billion missing. However, after long negotiations, Germany doubled its military support to Ukraine — from €4 billion to €8 billion.