After the United States and Germany let go of aiding main battle tanks to Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky went a step further and called on Western countries to continue to provide advanced weapons such as fighter jets and long-range missiles on the 25th.
For such requirements, Germany’s new Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on the 27th that it is “impossible” to provide fighter jets, which are more powerful than tanks. This move will bring risks for Germany. On the same day, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister and former ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk (Andriy Melnyk) issued a document suggesting that sooner or later Germany will agree to aid fighter jets and long-range missiles.
According to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” report on the 27th, Pistorios revealed in an interview that day that due to the continuous assistance to Ukraine, the special defense fund of 100 billion euros (about 737.4 billion yuan) established by Germany last year has been closed. not enough.
He plans to further increase Germany’s annual regular defense expenditure from the level of 50 billion euros. These funds will be used to supplement the German military’s arms inventory, especially the 14 Leopard 2 main battle tanks that Germany has agreed to assist Ukraine with.
Ukraine has been asking Western countries for main battle tanks in recent months, especially the German Leopard tank, but Germany has not agreed before. Later, the German side stated: Only when the United States aids its own M1 tanks to Ukraine, will Germany aid Leopard 2.
As a result, the United States let go of this issue on the 25th local time and agreed to assist Ukraine with M1 tanks. At the same time, Germany also made a decision to agree to assist Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks, and also allowed other countries to assist Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks.
On the same day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a video speech, calling on the West to continue to provide advanced weapons such as fighter planes and long-range missiles.
Regarding the request of the Ukrainian leader, Pistorios told the Süddeutsche Zeitung on the 27th, “I think this is impossible…A fighter jet is a much more complex system than a main battle tank. And it has a completely different range and firepower.” He warned that supplying Ukraine with fighter jets would put Germany at great risk.