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WAR IN UKRAINE

US approves Patriot missile sale to Germany worth 5 billion dollars

The United States on Thursday announced its approval of a $5 billion sale of up to 600 Patriot missiles and related equipment to Germany, which has donated several of the advanced air defence systems to Ukraine.

Published: 16 August 2024 09:52 CEST

patriot missiles and German soldiers

Ukrainian and German soldiers stand in front of Patriot missile systems in a military training area in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Photo by Jens Büttner / POOL / AFP

The proposed sale of the PAC-3 MSE missiles “will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by improving the security of a NATO ally that is an important force for political and economic stability in Europe,” the Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a statement.

It “will improve Germany’s capability to meet current and future threats and increase the defensive capabilities of its military. It will support Germany’s goal of improving national and territorial defence as well as interoperability with US and NATO forces,” the statement added.

The State Department approved the possible sale of the missiles to Germany, and the DSCA on Thursday provided the required notification to Congress, which still needs to sign off on the transaction.

Germany has donated several Patriot systems to Ukraine, which has faced repeated Russian missile barrages and drone attacks targeting its infrastructure, leaving it in desperate need of additional air defences.

READ ALSO: Ukraine asks Germany for air-to-surface missiles – defence ministry

After the outbreak of the Ukraine war in 2022, Berlin dropped a traditionally pacifist stance and has become Kyiv’s second-biggest supplier of military aid, after Washington.

Last month US and German leaders made a joint announcement that US-made far reaching missiles would be stationed in Germany from 2026.

READ ALSO: Baerbock defends stationing of long-range US missiles in Germany

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EXPLAINED: Why German leaders are bashing planned Ukraine aid cuts

As was announced Saturday, Germany’s proposed 2025 budget includes €4 billion in financial aid for Ukraine’s defence next year – about half of what was budgeted this year.

But the idea of cutting defence funding to Ukraine has brought backlash from both the conservative CDU party as well as leaders within the coalition.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) has led the charge on ensuring Germany maintains a tight budget. The DPA reported that he wrote a letter to Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) that “new measures” should only be entered into if “financing is secured” in the budgets for the coming years.

Budget cuts for Ukraine met with severe criticism

The finance ministry has suggested that any additional funding to Ukraine needs to be based on specifically reported and comprehensible needs.

The finance ministry’s phrasing seems to have come as a shock to many given an onslaught of bleak reports from the front lines in Ukraine this year that highlighted the damage being done due to lack of key air defences and funding.

Members of the CDU denounced what they claim to be foul politics and irresponsible policy.

“No one knows when and how much money will be available…This is another chapter of political tricks and deception,” Thorsten Frei, parliamentary secretary of the CDU party, told Funke media.

CDU member Christoph Ploß told Der Spiegel, “If the federal government now acts hesitantly and opportunistically, not only we, but also our children and grandchildren will have to pay bitterly.”

But criticism for the draft budget, which is backed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, isn’t only coming from opposition parties.

Chairman of the Bundestag Committee on Foreign Affairs, Michael Roth, from Scholz’s own Social Democrat Party, said on Monday that the budget “is a fatal signal for Ukraine”. He added, “We cannot make our security dependent on budgetary constraints”.

The Green party also penned an open letter to German government leadership calling for commitment to Ukraine.

“The budget agreement gives the impression that the German debt brake is more important than the life and survival of an attacked European nation…” the Green party’s letter reads.

Aspects of Germany’s 2025 budget are still to be negotiated until it is officially adopted by the end of the year.

READ ALSO: Two years on – How many Ukrainians have come to (and stayed) in Germany?

Can German aid be offset with Russian assets?

The finance ministry suggests that billions in aid from Germany can be replaced by allowing Ukraine to collect interest from frozen Russian state assets.

G7 countries recently agreed to fund Ukraine with an additional €50 billion, using Russian central bank assets which were frozen in 2022 as collateral – a loan which is expected to sustain the Ukrainian army for roughly one year.

But critics warn that providing Ukraine with the resources it needs to defend itself will take further investments in the coming years, whereas Germany’s current plan is to cut down aid significantly through 2027.

$50bn in proceeds from Russia’s frozen assets won’t be enough to replace the support for Ukraine that Berlin intends to absolutely gut.

Me for @Telegraph #MakeRussiaPay https://t.co/J6q2tRefHj

— Aaron Gasch Burnett (@AaronGBurnett) August 18, 2024

In the current year, Germany is providing almost €7.5 billion for military support for Ukraine, amounting to about €34 billion in military, humanitarian and financial aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion.

READ ALSO: What a Russian victory in Ukraine would mean for Germany

According to the draft budget, funding would be cut to €4 billion in 2025, and down to €500 million in 2027.

With reporting by DPA.

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