German politicians agreed in principle to double the country’s military aid for Ukraine in 2024 as the war shows no sign of ending. 

“Right now, as Ukraine has to continue its fight and at the same time part of public attention worldwide is directed more toward Israel, this is a strong signal to Ukraine that we won’t leave it in the lurch,” Boris Pistorius, the German defense minister, said, according to Reuters. 

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, one of Europe’s top anti-Russian hawks, said “our support will be massively expanded for next year.”

The Associated Press, citing the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, reported that Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition aims to increase military aid to Ukraine from 4 billion euros to 8 billion euros. The next step will be the Bundestag’s budget committee to sign off on the plan, which is expected later this week. 

Germany has said its increase is not in response to questions about future U.S. funding for Ukraine. Washington has been Kyiv’s biggest weapons provider, The Kyiv Post reported. 

“Germany is by overall value the second-largest source of weapons and combat materials to Kyiv, having promised or delivered to Ukraine €17.1 billion of military aid in all forms from late January 2022 to July 2023. Over the same 18-month period, the U.S. delivered or committed about €41.1 billion worth of arms and military supply,” the paper reported. 

The paper noted that the U.S. economy is worth about $23.3 trillion annually, which is about five times bigger than Germany.

Berlin has provided Kyiv with tanks, armored vehicles, munitions, and anti-aircraft defense systems, Euronews reported. Germany has led the way by providing Kyiv with advanced weapons, but refused to provide its long-range Taurus missiles. 

TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal has long reported that Germany is at war with Russia again. (See “MEDVEDEV: NUMBER OF ‘IDIOTS’ IN NATO GROWING AS U.K., GERMANY CONSIDERS ESCALATORY MEASURES”3 Oct 2023, “WE HATE PEACE: GERMANY’S SCHOLZ CALLS PEACE PROPONENTS ‘FALLEN ANGELS FROM HELL’” 22 Aug 2023, “GERMANY’S SCHOLZ SLAPS BACK AT PROTESTERS, SAYS ENDING WEAPON FLOW TO UKRAINE WON’T END WAR” 7 Mar 2023, and “BERLIN PEACE RALLY, LIKE U.S. PEACE RALLY, DENOUNCED BY MEDIA AND POLITICIANS” 28 Feb 2023.)

Scholz used the Russian invasion of Ukraine as his impetus to strengthen his own military. Berlin has already earmarked $107 billion for military projects and will now spend 2 percent of its GDP on its military.

Germany’s latest strategic policy paper released over the summer identified Russia as the most dangerous country in the world after its invasion of Ukraine that flouted “international law and the European security order.”

“With this epochal breach of the European peace order, Russia directly threatens our security and that of our NATO allies and the EU,” the 76-page document read. Berlin said Russia will continue to be the world’s biggest threat to stability “for the foreseeable future, today’s Russia is the greatest threat to peace and security in the Euro-Atlantic area.” (See “WWIII: GERMANY IDENTIFIES RUSSIA AS WORLD’S BIGGEST THREAT TO PEACE,” 20 Jun 2023.)