Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has announced extensive further arms deliveries to Ukraine. A new package has been launched that includes state-of-the-art air defense systems, rocket launchers, ammunition and anti-drone devices, Scholz said at a conference on the situation in Crimea, to which he was connected from Canada. A government spokesman said on request that Kyiv is to receive three more Iris-T air defense systems, a dozen armored recovery vehicles and 20 pick-up-mounted rocket launchers. Overall, according to the spokesman, armaments worth well over 500 million euros are involved.
The money still has to be released by the budget committee. The weapons are to be delivered “mainly in 2023”, “some significantly earlier”. According to the information, the package also includes precision ammunition. The government spokesman explained that it was the beginning of a sustainable modernization of the Ukrainian armed forces.