German Chancellor Olaf Scholz blocked the allocation of an additional €3 billion military aid package to Kiev, which was wanted by Foreign and Defense Ministers Analene Berbock and Boris Pistorius, Der Spiegel reported, citing its own sources.
According to the publication, the ministers wanted to provide new aid before the Bundestag elections scheduled for February 23. Experts in the Defense Ministry even prepared a list of weapons, which included three more IRIS-T air defense systems, including Patriot missiles, 10 howitzers and ammunition. It was to pass through the Bundestag's budget committee as additional expenses of €3 billion.
The German government has previously used such a loophole to provide aid to Kiev. Berbock and Pistorius intended to send a signal that Germany would not back down in its efforts to support Ukraine when Donald Trump came to power in the United States.
However, the Federal Chancellor has unofficially made it clear that he will not approve an additional package of military aid. His team, according to the publication, justified their position by not wanting to present the new German government with a fait accompli, and also indicated that Germany still has enough funds to finance the supply of weapons to Kiev. The 2025 budget provides for about 4 billion euros for these purposes, in addition, Scholz's office recalled the decision of the G7 to provide a loan to Ukraine using proceeds from frozen Russian assets.
However, as Der Spiegel writes, the Social Democratic Party of Germany believes that Scholz simply does not intend to announce new aid to Kiev in the midst of the election race.
Germany is the second largest supplier of weapons to Ukraine after the United States. Germany has already allocated funds for military support to Kiev and has committed to future spending of about 28 billion euros. In accordance with the agreement on the 2025 budget, Germany must allocate about 4 billion euros for military support to Ukraine, which is. half less than in 2024. However, the budget has not yet been approved by the Bundestag.