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In social media, including Threads, information is being spread claiming that Germany is halting military aid to Ukraine. Posts refer to a German “Bild” article, stating that Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Finance Minister Christian Lindner have frozen new funding requests. According to these claims, current contracts will be fulfilled, but new requests, including from the Ministry of Defense, will no longer be approved.
However, this is manipulation. Germany is awaiting the approval of the budget for new funding requests for next year, and the country continues to support Ukraine on both bilateral and multilateral levels.
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“Bild” published an article claiming that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Finance Minister Christian Lindner have frozen all new funding requests for military aid to Ukraine. Germany will fulfill current contracts but will not accept new requests from Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense. According to the outlet, this is due to the lack of funds allocated for Kyiv in the current budget planning. In a letter to Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, Lindner wrote that providing further aid to Ukraine should be contingent on securing funding for this in budget plans for the current and coming years.
However, the claim that Germany is stopping military aid to Ukraine is incorrect. While this year’s aid budget has been exhausted, the level of support for Ukraine for the next year will only be known after the 2025 budget is approved, which is expected in November. At that point, it will be clear how much funding can be allocated for new requests. Once funds become available, orders will resume.
Heorhii Tykhyi from Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also confirmed to Ukrinform that Germany is currently finalizing the budget for next year. “As last year, the German government has planned a certain amount of aid for Ukraine in its draft budget. It is similar to the amount planned last year at this stage of the budget process. Last year, this amount was increased during the parliamentary stage in the fall,” Tykhyi recalled.
In the 2024 budget draft, €4 billion was initially allocated for Ukraine’s needs. However, after negotiations, Germany nearly doubled the budget for military support to Ukraine to €7.1 billion. These funds have already been spent. According to Olaf Scholz, the draft budget for 2025 includes €4 billion for bilateral military support to Ukraine.
Germany is also working with the Group of Seven (G7) to unlock a short-term financial instrument worth $50 billion for Ukraine, using frozen Russian assets. “Bilateral German aid remains at the highest level, but it relies on the effectiveness of this instrument“, Bild writes. According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine expects the G7 countries to launch an additional loan mechanism to increase Ukraine’s budget revenue (Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration Loans for Ukraine, ERA) by the end of 2024.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Germany has been one of Ukraine’s largest donors. According to the German government, the country provided Ukraine with €1.6 billion in military aid in 2022, €5.6 billion in 2023, and €7.1 billion in 2024. In July 2023, Chancellor Scholz announced the delivery of weapons to Ukraine worth $17 billion, planned through 2027. Alongside weapons transfers, Germany is training Ukrainian soldiers and treating injured servicemen as part of this aid package.
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