The German government’s cost-saving emergency measure to freeze Ukraine assistance amid a raging budget crisis at home has disrupted not only future aid, but the Defense Ministry’s schedule for weapons, equipment and ammunition already promised, German media have reported.
According to an internal MoD report cited by local media, Ukraine’s request for spare parts for its German-supplied Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzers has gone unmet, forcing Ukraine’s forces to go howitzer-free in its offensive in Russia’s Kursk region.
The Panzerhaubitze 2000 case is one of some 30 “priority support” areas worth over €3 billion (about $3.3 billion) left unfilled, with others including air defense, artillery and drone systems. “Supplies from Bundeswehr stocks cannot be ensured as planned and promised,” the MoD report said, warning that overall support was "at risk."
Earlier in the week, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner reportedly sent a letter to the Foreign and Defense Ministries on the need to cut military assistance to Ukraine in the face of an austerity drive, while promising to send what has already been pledged.
“The party is over, the pot is empty,” a government source told media while discussing the aid freeze.
The German budget crunch is largely a crisis of Berlin’s own making, with the Central European economic powerhouse flirting with recession for much of the past two-and-a-half years after cutting itself off (with a little help from its US ‘allies’) from Russian oil and gas supplies, leaving major manufacturers exiting the country in droves search of cheaper energy, lower taxes and less bureaucracy.
German assistance for NATO's ongoing proxy war against Russia has ranged from Leopard tanks and Marder IFVs to long-range IRIS-T and Patriot missile systems, Gepard anti-aircraft guns, MARS MLRS, Stinger missiles, drones and Soviet-era stocks of tanks and BMPs left over from the old East Germany. Russia's Defense Ministry mentions German equipment on almost a daily basis in battlefield reports on weapons destroyed in the conflict, with some of the tanks, guns and other equipment ending up as trophies after being captured by Russian servicemen.