Chancellor Scholz says Germany is currently the biggest military supporter of Ukraine in Europe, and it will remain so in future
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday promised continued military support for Ukraine in its war with neighboring Russia.
“Germany continues to stand firmly by Ukraine's side,” Scholz told a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Berlin.
“Germany is the strongest military supporter of Ukraine in Europe, the second strongest in the world. I can assure you today and here that it will remain so,” he said.
Scholz accused Russia of waging a “murderous war” of aggression against Ukraine and claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “playing for time” and waiting for Western support to cease.
He underlined that Germany will continue to focus on strengthening the Ukrainian military's air defense capabilities, in order to protect the civilian infrastructure and energy systems.
“We have recently delivered a new, comprehensive military support package worth over €600 million ($657 million) to Ukraine. This includes the fifth IRIS-T-SLM system, infantry fighting vehicles, main battle tanks, self-propelled howitzers, artillery ammunition and drones,” he said.
Scholz also said that Germany will deliver another military support package worth around €1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) by the end of this year, with the support of Belgium, Denmark and Norway.
“This will include additional IRIS-T and Skynex air defense systems, Gepard anti-aircraft tanks, self-propelled and wheeled howitzers, main battle tanks, armored vehicles, combat drones, radars and artillery ammunition,” he said.
Zelenskyy, for his part, thanked Scholz for Germany's political, economic, and military support for Ukraine, and said this support was vital for the country to prevail in its war with Russia.
“We thank Germany for this - I thank you personally, Olaf, for this very strong support of Ukraine,” he said, adding that it was very important for Ukrainians to see Germany making significant further pledges of support to Ukraine.
“Germany helps us most with air defense. That is a fact, it saves thousands of Ukrainian lives and gives our cities and villages the opportunity to protect themselves from Russian terror,” he said.
“The Patriot and IRIS-T systems and Gepard tanks are a very large contribution of German weapons and technology. Economic support and political support are also very important. I thank you for this whole range of support,” he added.
Zelenskyy said during his meeting with Scholz, they will also discuss prospects of a diplomatic settlement to the conflict and ongoing work for holding a second peace summit.
“Today, I will present to the chancellor the plan of how we believe we can force Russia to make peace, how we can end this war - it would be desirable for this to happen next year, in 2025,” he said.
“We can all do this together with our partners, and we are also counting on German support,” Zelenskyy added.
