Germany has decided to increase arms supplies to warring Ukraine by sending 2,700 additional anti-aircraft missiles, a government source told AFP on Thursday (March 3rd).
The government “approved additional support for Ukraine,” the source said, citing Soviet STRELA missiles coming from the army’s reserves of former communist East Germany. These reserves were integrated into those of the German National Army, the Bundeswehr, after German reunification in 1990.
Berlin has already authorized the delivery to Kyiv on Saturday of 500 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, 1,400 anti-tank missiles and nine howitzers, all of which have arrived in Ukraine in the meantime. Most of those weapons arrived in Ukraine on Wednesday, according to the German government. This decision then marked a turning point in German post-war policy, as the country had previously banned the export of “deadly” weapons to conflict zones due to its Nazi history.
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz justified this reversal with the “caesura” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is forcing Germany to rethink its priorities. Berlin also announced a sharp increase in military spending, immediately releasing 100 billion euros to modernize the Bundeswehr and increase the defense budget in the coming years. The howitzers delivered to Ukraine are also Soviet-made, coming from the army of the former communist GDR.