Almost a billion euros for aid to Ukraine have been lost in the German budget – Bild
Photo: Boris Pistorius / EPA

The German government's draft budget for 2025, which has been approved, allocates 8.3 billion euros for support to Ukraine, which is almost 1 billion euros less than the country's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius had previously publicly promised. This is reported by Bild.

During his visit to Kyiv on June 12, Pistorius met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and assured him that Germany's total military aid to Ukraine in 2025 would reach approximately 9.2 billion euros.

On June 18, the country's Ministry of Defense provided more precise figures: 7.3 billion euros for aid to Ukraine have already been approved by parliament, and a further 1.9 billion euros are planned additionally.

At the same time, on June 24, the German Cabinet of Ministers officially approved a draft budget that includes only 8.3 billion euros in aid for "countries that have suffered armed aggression" (almost the entire amount is for Ukraine).

At the same time, the German Ministry of Defense denies that the aid has been reduced.

"The German government is supporting Ukraine this year as promised, i.e., around 9 billion euros in 2025. Finance Minister Klingebiel and Defense Minister Pistorius agreed on this during the negotiations. And that remains in effect. The fact that the amount for supporting Ukraine in the government draft law is not 9 billion euros, but 8.3 billion euros, does not change this," the spokesperson for the German ministry emphasized.

Read also
Merkel's mission in the White House: while Ukraine is holding Putin back, Germany is educating Trump.

The country's Ministry of Defense also adds that the 1.9 billion euros have already been "included" in the total amount of 8.3 billion euros.

This position contradicts previous statements by the agency, which spoke of adding, rather than including, additional funds.

The journalists of the publication also found out that the agency submitted 8.3 billion euros for consideration during the negotiations, and not 9.2 billion euros, as was publicly stated.

Now, the German Ministry of Defense explains the difference with so-called co-financing and repayments of money from the European Peace Facility (EPF).

They are counting on these external sources to "make up" the missing 900 million euros. But there are no guarantees for this yet.