foreign ministers agree
EU increases budget for arms deliveries to Ukraine
06/26/2023, 12:15 p.m
Ukraine can hope for more arms and ammunition supplies from EU countries. For this purpose, the EU is once again expanding a financial pot.
The EU will increase funding for the supply of arms and equipment to Ukraine and other partner countries by a further 3.5 billion euros. The foreign ministers of the member states made a corresponding decision at a meeting in Luxembourg, as an EU spokeswoman announced.
The decision is a clear political signal of the EU’s continued commitment to military support to Ukraine and other partners. Specifically, the decision increased the financial ceiling for the so-called European Peace Facility to around twelve billion euros. This EU financing instrument was created before the start of the Ukraine war to provide military support to partner countries and was originally only provided with around five billion euros for the period 2021 to 2027.
Because of the unexpected Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, however, these funds are far from sufficient. Around 5.6 billion euros have already been released for aid to the Ukrainian armed forces alone. In addition to Ukraine, countries such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Lebanon and Mauritania are benefiting from the money. According to the federal government, Germany finances around a quarter of the aid.
The German side is to make 45 more Gepard anti-aircraft tanks available to Ukraine by the end of the year. In addition to the Gepard tanks, the IRIS-T SLM air defense systems are intended to strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities.