During his visit to Germany, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked the allies for additional weapons, and the German federal government responded to this request. Germany will give Ukraine twelve more Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled artillery systems (SAU) worth 150 million euros for defense against Russian invaders. This was reported by Stern.de , according to UNN.
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Six of these modern artillery pieces, which have a range of 30 to 56 kilometers, will be delivered this year, and the remaining six next year, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) announced at Ramstein Air Base in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Long-range weapons for Ukraine
At the Ramstein base, Ukraine's allies are currently discussing further support for the country, which has been defending itself against Russian aggression since February 2022. For the first time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy unexpectedly attended such a meeting.
“We need more weapons to expel Russian troops from our territory, especially from the Donetsk region,” Zelenskyy said at the opening of the meeting.
He emphasized the need for longer-range weapons.
“We need these means (...) not only to liberate the occupied territories of Ukraine, but also for Russian territories to motivate Russia to seek peace,” Zelensky said.
Germany is the second largest arms supplier to Ukraine after the United States. The German federal government has earmarked more than seven billion euros to support Ukraine this year, and four billion euros next year. After that, the aid is to be restructured: it will be financed by a loan of about $50 billion (approximately 45 billion euros), which will be paid from the interest income from frozen Russian state assets. How this will be technically implemented has not yet been decided.