Germany plans hike in military aid for Ukraine

Germany is planning to boost its military aid spending for Ukraine, a member of the parliamentary budget committee told AFP on Tuesday.

Published: 28 March 2023 16:22 CEST

Ukrainian soldiers sit on a tank near the front line. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/AP | Kateryna Klochko

Some €12 billion more in spending is due to be approved by the committee, with the funds to go towards military help for Kyiv as well as replenishing stocks of equipment already sent to Ukraine.

The Germany army, or Bundeswehr, will be able to begin spending the cash this year, with further funds also earmarked for the coming years.

It was unclear how the sum would be allocated as well as the precise time frame covered by the spending.

The sum would dwarf the €3 billion spent so far by Berlin on military aid for Kyiv.

The committee will specifically vote on Wednesday on replenishing stocks of Panzerhaubitze 2000s sent to Ukraine, the source said.

Together with the Netherlands, Germany has sent 14 of the self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine, according to Berlin.

Germany has also sent 18 advanced Leopard tanks and about 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, as well as an air defence system.

The finance ministry called the extra spending “objectively indispensable” in a letter asking the budget committee to release the sum, according to Der Spiegel magazine.

Without continued support, there would be “a serious danger that Ukraine would lose its defensive struggle against the Russian aggressor, with unforeseeable consequences for the European peace order”, it said.

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The trio, named as Herwig F., Ina F. and Thomas R. “are strongly suspected of having worked for a Chinese secret service” at some point before June 2022, the prosecutors said in a statement.

The suspects were arrested in Duesseldorf and Bad Homburg in western Germany and their homes and workplaces were also searched.

Thomas R. is suspected of working as an agent for an employee of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS), obtaining information in Germany on technologies that could be used for military purposes.

He is said to have established contact with Herwig F. and his wife Ina F., who run a company in Duesseldorf, in order to access such technologies and make contacts in the German scientific and research community.

The company signed an agreement with a German university to provide “knowledge transfer”, the prosecutors said.

The first phase of the project was to prepare a study for a Chinese “contractual partner” on state-of-the-art machine parts used in powerful ship engines, they said.

The contractual partner was the MSS employee that Thomas R. was working for and the project was financed by Chinese state agencies, they said.

At the time of their arrest, the suspects were also allegedly in further negotiations about research projects that could be useful for the expansion of China’s maritime combat capabilities.

The trio is also accused of purchasing a special laser from Germany on behalf of the MSS and exporting it to China without authorisation.