Germany Pistorius expects rapid agreement on Ukraine aid
Federal Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius has promised Ukraine support beyond the federal elections on 23 February. He also said at the end of a visit to Kiev that he expected the German government to reach an agreement soon on additional aid of three billion euros. On ARD's "Tagesthemen" and ZDF's "heute journal", the SPD politician pointed out that there is still no regular federal budget for 2025 and that the federal government is operating with a provisional budget. "It is not trivial to find the money," he emphasized on ZDF.
15.01.2025, 06:45
SDA
The minister defended Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) against accusations. "I see no reason to assume that the Chancellor is putting the brakes on here," said Pistorius on ARD television. Scholz rejects savings elsewhere to finance further arms deliveries to Ukraine.
Pistorius: Kiev has no doubts about German support
Pistorius met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj during his visit, which was not publicly announced. With a view to the upcoming change of power in Washington, Pistorius said that there are certainly concerns in Ukraine as to whether the country will continue to receive support from the USA. Since the start of the war in February 2022, the United States has been Ukraine's most important supporter and largest arms supplier.
"But we are not really worried at all about the support of our European partners, especially not as far as Germany is concerned," Pistorius stated on ARD. Should the US government's support fail to materialize in the future, Pistorius was convinced that Europe would be able to absorb this. "But it would be a feat of strength."
Selenskyj thanked and emphasized the importance of military aid from Germany. "Germany accounts for 16 percent of the total support from all countries. This must be taken very seriously," he said in his evening video address.
In military and financial terms, Germany is the second most important supporter after the USA. In recent weeks, Ukraine has received more than 1500 combat and reconnaissance drones as well as tens of thousands of rounds of artillery ammunition from Germany. This is according to the German government's updated list of military aid.
Russia threatens after heavy Ukrainian attacks
As so often since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression, there was again an air alert in many regions of Ukraine on Wednesday night. The air force located Russian combat drones in the sky. Russian aircraft also dropped glide bombs on the northern Ukrainian region of Sumy. There was a missile attack in the Zaporizhzhya region.
At the same time, further Ukrainian drone attacks were reported from Russia, for example in the Tambov region. On Tuesday night, Ukraine carried out the most massive drone attack on Russian industrial facilities and defense plants to date. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, long-range Western missiles were also used in the shelling of an ammunition factory in the western Russian region of Bryansk. Such Western-backed strikes by Ukraine did not go unanswered.
The targets of the drone attacks were up to 1100 kilometers deep in Russian territory, for example in the cities of Kazan and Engels on the Volga. The details of the information provided by both warring parties could not be independently verified.
Anger over detachments to the infantry
On the front in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian defenders are still under pressure from the advancing Russian troops. There is a shortage of infantrymen in particular. But in the Ukrainian army, the dispute over the transfer of air force soldiers to the infantry is becoming increasingly heated. The General Staff justified the move as a "necessary step", saying that the ground forces had to be reinforced with soldiers from other branches of the armed forces.
In his video message, Selensky addressed the displeasure in the air force. He had ordered that under no circumstances should the combat units needed for air defense or air strikes be reduced, he said.
Putin confidant talks about the end of Ukraine
Meanwhile, a close confidant of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin spoke openly about the possible end of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova as independent states. Nikolai Patrushev, former secretary of the Russian Security Council, told the Moscow newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda that both countries had fallen into crisis as a result of anti-Russian policies.
"It is not impossible that Ukraine will cease to exist this year," he said. In the case of Moldova, it is likely "that it will become another state or cease to exist at all". Patrushev (73) is a close associate of Putin and an advocate of Russia's claims to great power status, even though he has only been an adviser on shipping policy in the Kremlin since 2024.
