Germany Plans to Halve Military Aid to Ukraine

Germany's draft budget for 2025 indicates a significant reduction in bilateral military aid to Ukraine, cutting it by half.

The decision reflects the German government's focus on achieving budgetary savings while relying on surpluses generated from frozen Russian assets to continue supporting Kyiv, according to a parliamentary source cited by Agence France-Presse on Saturday.

The source revealed that Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government, seeking to reduce spending, does not intend to provide additional assistance beyond the €4 billion allocated in next year’s budget for military aid to Ukraine. This confirms reports from various media outlets.

Currently, Berlin, the second-largest contributor to Ukraine after the United States, provides €8 billion in aid this year. To bridge the gap created by the proposed reduction, Germany plans to establish a financial mechanism within the G7 and the European Union, utilizing frozen Russian assets.

A source within the German Finance Ministry explained that this mechanism would help maintain Germany's bilateral aid at a high level, contingent on the effectiveness of this approach.

This decision was made in agreement between Chancellor Scholz, a Social Democrat, and Finance Minister Christian Lindner, a member of the Liberal Party, as reported by the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung over the weekend.

According to the weekly publication, Lindner requested on August 5th that Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, also a Social Democrat, ensure compliance with the €4 billion cap set for the 2025 budget.

The 2025 budget proposal has sparked intense discussions within Germany's three-party coalition government, which includes the Liberals, Greens, and Social Democrats. The Finance Minister has urged his colleagues to reduce spending in order to adhere to the "debt brake," a constitutional rule designed to prevent excessive borrowing by the state.

However, the budget proposal is not yet final and must still be debated in parliament before being approved by the end of the year.

Ukraine’s allies have been working for several months on a mechanism to use a portion of the $300 billion in frozen Russian assets worldwide to support Kyiv in its ongoing war against Russian forces.

In mid-June, the G7 nations reached a "political agreement" on a US proposal to fund a €50 billion loan for Ukraine.

The parliamentary source told AFP that Berlin expects these funds to become available starting in 2025.