Defence Minister Boris Pistorius announced a German aid package of just under half a billion euros for Ukraine at a meeting in Ramstein on Tuesday, Frankfurter Allgemeine reports.
Germany will cover the cost of 180,000 rounds of ammunition as part of a Czech initiative to buy 155 millimetre calibre artillery shells for Ukraine on the world market, Pistorius said. He added that this aid package will be sent in stages and will start in the summer. Germany has also “concluded a national contract” for 100,000 rounds of this calibre. Deliveries are due to start this year.
At the invitation of US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, the so-called Contact Group on Ukraine has just reconvened at the US airbase Ramstein in Rhineland-Palatinate to coordinate military support for Ukraine. Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov is also attending the meeting.
Defence Minister Pistorius also announced in Ramstein the delivery of additional vehicles “to sustainably improve battlefield mobility and logistics.” According to Pistorius, this includes, among other things, 100 armoured infantry vehicles and 100 “high-performance” logistics vehicles. Germany is also continuously supplying spare parts for the systems already delivered.
In addition, an “Air Defence Coalition” for Ukraine, led by Germany and France, is being promoted. Pistorius said Norway joined the group just a few days ago, bringing the total to 15 countries. In a meeting with journalists, Pistorius claimed:
We want and will work together to make sure that in the future Ukraine can build up its air defence capabilities so that it can defend itself as well as deter effectively. We will continue to support the Ukrainians with what they so desperately need.
France, Germany and Poland showed cohesion at the Weimar Triangle meeting last week. They are serious about supporting Ukraine, minister said.
On 17 February, the Russian Defence Ministry said that Russian troops had taken control of Avdiivka. On 13 March, the commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces Oleksandr Syrskyi said that the situation in the eastern direction remained difficult.
