Germany maps new 1.3 billion euro aid package for Ukraine but no Taurus missiles in sight
supplemented
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced a new aid package to Ukraine during his visit to Kyiv on Tuesday, but it will not include long-range Taurus missiles, Bild newspaper reported.
Later, the official confirmed that Germany will provide Ukraine with a package worth 1.3 billion euros. It includes additional IRIS-T for 2024-2025 and ammunition, writes German N-tv.
Pistorius vowed that Germany will continue to provide military support to Ukraine.
However, as one member of the delegation noted, it will be "more of the same," that is, more of the aid that Germany has already provided so far.
This means that "Ukraine will continue to wait in vain for the long-awaited German Taurus cruise missiles."
"There is no new status on this matter [on the supply of this type of missiles]," Pistorius explained to journalists.
Instead, he promised Ukraine another package of military aid worth 1.3 billion euros at a meeting with his Ukrainian colleague Rustem Umerov, writes N-tv.
Among other things, the package includes artillery ammunition and four additional IRIS T-SLM air defense systems, which is already the third tranche of these systems for Ukraine, the outlet writes.
"Three systems from the first tranche have already been delivered, the fourth is planned for this winter. The second tranche of four systems is planned to be delivered in 2024, and now the third tranche is promised in 2025," the agency explains.
Bild provided additional details of the package: Pistorius promised Ukraine 20,000 new 155 mm artillery rounds (the same amount as Germany has supplied in total so far), as well as 8,000 anti-tank mines (PARMs).
Also, the package of weapons from Germany includes 60 high-tech reconnaissance drones of various types, as well as more than two dozen radar systems for identifying enemy UAVs, the outlet notes.
"Over the course of the next year, the [German] federal government intends to produce up to 130,000 NATO-standard artillery rounds and then deliver them to Ukraine. A necessary condition is a corresponding increase in industrial production," notes Bild.
The newspaper writes that the new tranche of IRIS-T will increase the total number of these promised air defense systems from eight to 12, but the first of the four new systems will not arrive before the end of 2024, and the rest – not before 2025.
On November 14, Pistorius opposed the introduction of a "military economy" in Europe. He is convinced that the military economy in the EU will not lead to a sharp increase in the production of ammunition and will not cover the needs, since technological processes cannot be accelerated.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the reason for refusing to hand over Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine is "constitutional restrictions and the risk of war escalation".
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba commented on Germany's refusal to provide Taurus missiles: "We will turn a blind eye to this if we receive air defense."
