Has Germany run out of money to give to Ukraine?

Germany is Ukraine’s biggest military donor in Europe. On paper, it appears determined to ensure that Vladimir Putin’s act of aggression does not pay off. But now a German newspaper has seen documents suggesting Berlin wants to halt new support for Kyiv. 

According to the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Finance Minister Christian Lindner sent a letter to Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Defence Minister Boris Pistorius to inform them that ‘new measures’ in aid of Ukraine’s struggle to survive may only be approved if ‘funding is secured’. Lindner urged both his colleagues to ‘ensure that the set upper limits are adhered to.’ 

This means existing commitments will still be fulfilled, but long-term supply can’t be guaranteed. The government has previously indicated that it is hoping new sources of funding may be covered through the use of frozen Russian assets. But nobody seems to know when the funds will be made available or ‘if that’s even possible legally’, as one spokesperson for Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic party admitted.