According to a draft budget approved by the government, Germany is planning to nearly halve military aid for Ukraine next year, from around €8 billion (US$8.7 billion) to around €4 billion (US$4,35 billion).
According to the BBC, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said Ukraine's financing was “secure for the foreseeable future” due to a G7 group of rich nations scheme to raise US$50bn from interest on frozen Russian assets.
Germany is reportedly Ukraine's second biggest military donor, after the United States. This year, Berlin's budget for Kyiv is set at nearly €7.5bn.
The planned aid cut comes amid fears in Ukraine and among its European allies that US funds could be slashed or even stopped if Donald Trump wins the presidency in November's election.
Reuters reports that alarm bells rang across Europe this week after Trump picked Senator J.D. Vance, who opposes military aid for Ukraine and warned Europe will have to rely less on the United States to defend the continent, as his candidate for vice president.
Trump sparked fierce criticism from Western officials for suggesting he would not protect countries that failed to meet the transatlantic military alliance's defense spending targets and would even encourage Russia to attack them.
NBC News says Germany has faced criticism for repeatedly missing a NATO target of spending 2% of its economic output on defense.
The stocks of Germany’s armed forces, already run down by decades of underinvestment, have been further depleted by arms supplies to Kyiv.
So far, Berlin has reportedly donated three Patriot air defense units to Kyiv, more than any other country, bringing down the number of Patriot systems in Germany to nine.
NBC News reports that although military aid to Ukraine will be cut, Germany will comply with the NATO target of spending 2% of GDP on defense in 2025, with a total of US$82.3 billion.
Days after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a “Zeitenwende” — German for historic turning point — with a 100 billion euros special fund to bring the military up to speed.
From this special fund, there will be US$24 billion more for defense, plus US$58.3 billion in the regular budget, still less than that sought by defense minister Boris Pistorius.
The defense budget is set to receive a meager US$1.4 billion more than in 2024, far below the US$7.3 billion requested by Pistorius.
Moscow launched the so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022.
