Urged on, Germany always gave Ukraine more than billions of dollars to buy weapons

Germany’s DW news agency on April 16 quoted German Finance Minister Christian Lindner as confirming that the country will increase its spending budget for “military assistance” purposes in 2022 by 2 billion euros, equivalent to 2 billion euros. 16 billion USD, most of which is for helping Ukraine.

German tank Leopard 2 participates in training activities. Photo: Getty Images

“Those funds are mainly to support Ukraine,” Christian Lindner wrote on Twitter, confirming that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz “asked for it from the beginning”.

According to AFP, of the above money, more than 1 billion euros, or 1.1 billion dollars, will be allocated to directly support Kiev. This money is likely to be used by Ukraine to buy military equipment.

Germany has so far supplied Ukraine with military supplies including artillery shells, man-portable anti-aircraft missiles, machine guns and ammunition, but not heavy weapons such as tanks, helicopters and fighter jets. .

The decision to increase aid to Ukraine was made after Berlin was repeatedly urged and even criticized by Kiev and some European countries, notably Poland, for not fully supporting Ukraine with weapons. when the war with Russia was going on.

Ukraine earlier this week refused the visit of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he wanted German Chancellor Scholz to visit Kiev. However, Mr. Scholz expressed displeasure with Ukraine’s move and confirmed that there were no plans to visit the country.

In addition to the arms issue, Germany is also under pressure from its allies to announce more drastic policies targeting the Russian energy industry, because this leading European economy is the largest importer of gas, as well as the largest gas importer. like the bulk of Moscow’s oil.

In a step to reduce dependence on Russian fossil energy, the German Finance Ministry confirmed that it has arranged more than 3 billion USD to purchase equipment for importing liquefied natural gas (LNG). Berlin is increasing LNG imports from Qatar, the US and Australia, despite the higher price of Russian gas.