Germany Slashes Ukraine Aid: Will Financial Strain Derail Berlin’s Support for Kyiv?

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Germany is Ukraine’s biggest European supporter, in financing and arms, for Kyiv’s fight against Russia. However, the latest budget proposal for next year shows significant cuts in aid to Ukraine. The German government insists it will not abandon Ukraine, but financial pressure on Berlin may throw that commitment into question.       #OIDW #DWVideos #GermanyUkraineAid #BudgetCuts #BerlinSupport #UkraineCrisis #EuropeanAllies #RussianConflict #FinancialStrain #GermanGovernment #AidReduction #UkraineSupport #KyivAid #InternationalRelations #EuropeanPolitics #BudgetProposal #GermanyUkraine                 ~HT.97~PR.152~ED.101~

Transcript

00:00Has Germany reached the limit of its backing for Ukraine?

00:04So far, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has promised unwavering support.

00:08I will advocate for sustainable and reliable financial support for Ukraine in the coming

00:14years because this is about Europe's security.

00:20Germany has been generous, providing over 7.5 billion euros this year alone to help

00:25Kiev defend itself against Russian aggression.

00:29But now government budget cuts could reduce the support.

00:33Next year, aid for Ukraine is set to decrease to 4.2 billion euros and no new funds will

00:39be made available, only previously approved and planned deliveries such as Iris-T air

00:44defence systems and Leopard tanks.

00:47It looks like additional requests will be denied.

00:50Critics say such cuts could seriously undermine Ukraine's efforts to win the war.

00:55It's a 480 billion euro budget.

00:59And we are talking about a couple of billion for the most important foreign policy question

01:04that there is in Europe right now.

01:07And cutting this out of the budget because cuts need to be made, I think that's the

01:12completely wrong set of priorities.

01:15The risk is that neither the industry nor the German armed forces nor Ukraine can plan

01:23with what will they get when.

01:25However, the government insists that Germany is not abandoning its allies.

01:32Germany remains absolutely committed and the Chancellor's word holds true that the support

01:38for Ukraine will continue as long as necessary and that no one, especially not the Russian

01:43president, can hope that we will let up.

01:49Berlin's plan is to provide Kiev with access to a 50 billion euro fund financed using confiscation

01:55of Russian state assets.

01:57That has also drawn criticism.

01:59I'm very irritated by this suggestion because from my understanding the interest on frozen

02:06assets by the Russian government belongs to Ukraine.

02:11It is not there to help the German budget with financing help for Ukraine or any other

02:17matter.

02:18And this idea is not yet fully agreed upon internationally.

02:22It remains unclear when these funds will be available.

02:25As Germany's support hangs in the balance, there's a growing fear that Ukraine might

02:30end up with much less military support than it needs.

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