In Ukraine, Russian rockets and cruise missiles kill children, women and men every day. Germany therefore delivered defense systems early on. Berlin is sending anti-aircraft tanks and anti-aircraft batteries to Ukraine, and Defense Minister Pistorius has just promised two more launch pads for the Patriot system.
Konrad Schuller
Political correspondent for the Sunday newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine in Berlin.
Ukraine is defending itself against Russian kinshals and iskanders with weapons from Germany. It is therefore even more troubling that these shells have one thing in common with Western defensive weapons: they apparently fly with German help. Despite all the sanctions, they contain components from Germany and other allied countries. Wladyslaw Vlasyuk, the sanctions officer for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has already pointed this out. “We have people killed by bullets every day,” he told FAS, “and many of them contain components from Western countries.”
Together with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, Vlasyuk recently reported to Western allies what Kiev gathered about this. On June 13, he presented data to the ambassadors of Germany and other states that showed one thing above all: according to Ukrainian estimates, Russia has doubled its ballistic and cruise missile production since the 2022 attack – from 512 to probably 1,061 in the course of this year. But this is only possible because Western sanctions against Russia are circumvented by third countries. According to Kiev, 81% of smuggled components come from America. Switzerland follows with eight percent. Germany and Japan are in third place with 3.5% each.
There are also 16 German companies on the list
Components from Germany are said to be on the Kh-101 cruise missile and the 9M728 and 9M729 Iskander variants. The Kh-47M2 Kinschal hypersonic missile is also expected to contain German parts.
A total of 16 German companies provided materials and services for these weapons according to Ukrainian lists. According to Kiev, exports mainly took place via China, but also via Central Asia, the Caucasus or Turkey. Apparently, electronics were delivered, but also insulating materials or plastics. It is possible that some companies do not even know where their goods are going, since, according to Ukrainians, mazes of fictitious companies are created in transit countries, which often last only one day.
According to information from FAS, Kiev’s representation in Berlin is not questioned. The Foreign Ministry said that reports “by our Ukrainian colleagues about the use of sanctioned components in Russian projectiles are taken very seriously” and that this information was checked “very carefully”. However, it is “possible that these components were delivered before the war and before our sanctions came into effect”. Russia had been preparing the attack on Ukraine for a long time and it cannot be ruled out “that stockpiles of critical components were already built up before the war”. Deliveries contrary to sanctions would, in any case, be “a case for the Public Ministry”.
Apartment blocks in the Ukrainian town of Pjervomaiske after a Russian rocket attack in early July : Photo: dpa
It’s hard to see through, but there are warning signs. The EU Commission recently named one of them: the skyrocketing increase in trade in certain countries for specific products is “concrete evidence” that Russia is trying to circumvent sanctions here. For example, if Kazakhstan has never traded gunpowder before, and suddenly both imports (from France) and exports (to Russia) skyrocket in 2022, there’s a strong case that one of them is linked.