Germany announces fresh military aid to Ukraine – DW – 04/11/2025

Following a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels, acting German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that Russia is still not interested in peace.

He added that Russia must understand that Ukraine is capable of continuing to fight.

“Given Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine, we must concede (that) peace in Ukraine appears to be out of reach in the immediate future. We will ensure that Ukraine continues to benefit from our joint military support,” he said.

According to Pistorius, Germany will provide Ukraine with more than €11 billion ($12.5 billion) in military aid by 2029 in addition to the funds already pledged.

However, Germany can’t provide Ukraine with new Patriot air defense systems as it is waiting on deliveries of these systems itself, he added.

Pistorius added that it was important that US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attended the meeting, even if it was only a virtual participation. Former US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had formerly chaired the regular meetings of Ukraine’s allies throughout the war. 

US military support of Ukraine has been called into question since Donald Trump took office in January, and immediately began embracing Russian narratives on the war. Trump has even threatened to pull the plug on US aid deliveries. 

Acting German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced a new military aid package from Germany at a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group in Brussels.

According to Pistorius, more guided missiles and ground surveillance radars will be delivered to Ukraine this year.

The package will also include a further 100,000 rounds of artillery ammunition, 300 reconnaissance drones, 25 Marder infantry fighting vehicles, 15 Leopard 1A5 main battle tanks, 120 Manpads ground-based air defense systems and 14 artillery systems.

In recent days, 30 additional Patriot guided missiles have also been delivered to Ukraine, the minister added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to attack Ukraine and cause an increasing number of civilian casualties, Pistorius said. “There is no sign of any decline in the fighting on Putin’s part. He accepts the deaths of civilians, even children,” he added.

Russia will discuss further prisoner swaps with the United States following an exchange earlier this week, the head of Moscow’s foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, has said.

“Dialogue with the new US administration will certainly continue in various directions, including the issue you mentioned,” spy chief Sergei Naryshkin told reporters when asked about future talks on prisoner exchanges.

On Thursday, Russia freed dual US citizen Ksenia Karelina, who was convicted of “treason” in Russia and sentenced to 12 years in prison over a donation she made to a pro-Ukrainian charity.

She was released in exchange for alleged technology smuggler Arthur Petrov, whom the US accused of running a global smuggling ring to export sensitive electronics to the Russian military.

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff has arrived in Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

Axios and Russian news agencies, citing their sources and FlightRadar data, reported earlier that Witkoff had traveled to Russia and was expected to meet with President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

Peskov said he would announce any meeting Putin had with Witkoff if time for such a meeting appeared in the Russian leader’s schedule.

Trump wants to end the war in Ukraine. According to media reports, he was angry with Putin at the end of March, saying he was “pissed off”.

At the recent NATO foreign ministers’ meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio made it clear that Trump would not accept the Russian president’s stalling tactics for much longer.

Most recently, the US tried to broker a 30-day ceasefire during the negotiations. While Ukraine agreed to the proposal, Putin set preconditions for such a ceasefire.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched 39 drones and one ballistic missile in attacks over the past day.

The air force shot down 24 drones and another 13 did not reach their targets, likely due to electronic warfare countermeasures, it said in a statement on social media.

It did not specify what happened to the remaining two drones or the missile.

Defense ministers from the so-called Ukraine Defense Contact Group, once led by the United States, are meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

The meeting will be chaired by acting German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and his British counterpart John Healey. 

The two ministers are standing in for former US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who had initiated and led the so-called Ramstein Group of some 50 countries in support of Ukraine, up until the Trump administration took office in January. 

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov is expected to give ministers an update on the battle situation on the front lines and outline what defense equipment his armed forces most urgently need at the moment.

Early on Friday, the British Ministry of Defense announced a £450 million (€517 million or $588 million) “surge” of military assistance to Ukraine. The military aid package will be delivered by British and Ukrainian suppliers.

Britain said a joint effort with Norway would provide hundreds of thousands of military drones, radar systems and anti-tank mines, as well as repair and maintenance contracts to keep Ukraine’s armored vehicles on the battlefield.

Defense ministers from the so-called Ukraine Contact Group are meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels. 

Meanwhile, US special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia.

We will follow what’s happening there as well as other events related to Russia’s war on Ukraine and diplomatic efforts to end the fighting.