00:00Has Germany reached the limit of its backing for Ukraine?
00:04So far, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has promised unwavering support.
00:08I will advocate for sustainable and reliable financial support for Ukraine in the coming
00:14years because this is about Europe's security.
00:20Germany has been generous, providing over 7.5 billion euros this year alone to help
00:25Kiev defend itself against Russian aggression.
00:29But now government budget cuts could reduce the support.
00:33Next year, aid for Ukraine is set to decrease to 4.2 billion euros and no new funds will
00:39be made available, only previously approved and planned deliveries such as Iris-T air
00:44defence systems and Leopard tanks.
00:47It looks like additional requests will be denied.
00:50Critics say such cuts could seriously undermine Ukraine's efforts to win the war.
00:55It's a 480 billion euro budget.
00:59And we are talking about a couple of billion for the most important foreign policy question
01:04that there is in Europe right now.
01:07And cutting this out of the budget because cuts need to be made, I think that's the
01:12completely wrong set of priorities.
01:15The risk is that neither the industry nor the German armed forces nor Ukraine can plan
01:23with what will they get when.
01:25However, the government insists that Germany is not abandoning its allies.
01:32Germany remains absolutely committed and the Chancellor's word holds true that the support
01:38for Ukraine will continue as long as necessary and that no one, especially not the Russian
01:43president, can hope that we will let up.
01:49Berlin's plan is to provide Kiev with access to a 50 billion euro fund financed using confiscation
01:55of Russian state assets.
01:57That has also drawn criticism.
01:59I'm very irritated by this suggestion because from my understanding the interest on frozen
02:06assets by the Russian government belongs to Ukraine.
02:11It is not there to help the German budget with financing help for Ukraine or any other
02:17matter.
02:18And this idea is not yet fully agreed upon internationally.
02:22It remains unclear when these funds will be available.
02:25As Germany's support hangs in the balance, there's a growing fear that Ukraine might
02:30end up with much less military support than it needs.
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