Germany will finance a $500 million package of military equipment and ammunition for Ukraine provided by the United States as part of NATO’s new Ukraine Priority Needs List (PURL) initiative, the NATO press office said on 13 August.
Alliance Secretary General Mark Rutte welcomed the German announcement as “a clear demonstration of Germany’s continued commitment to Ukraine’s defence”.
“This delivery will help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression. Germany is the largest European donor of military aid to Ukraine and today’s announcement once again underlines its commitment to help the Ukrainian people defend their freedom and sovereignty,” he stressed.
The German Foreign Ministry noted that the support packages for Ukraine under the PURL initiative will include military goods that are either not produced by European industry or can be delivered by the United States faster than European partners or Canada on the planned scale. These include, for example, critical air defence equipment needed to counter Russian airstrikes that are causing an increasing number of casualties across Ukraine.
Germany’s announcement comes after Sweden, Norway and Denmark together decided earlier this month to provide about $500 million for a NATO initiative to supply U.S. weapons to Ukraine, and even before that, the Netherlands announced a similar package.
On 14 July, US President Donald Trump said during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that he planned to provide Ukraine with “billions of dollars worth of weapons” to be purchased by NATO. He named Patriot air defence systems among the military equipment planned to be provided to Ukraine.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Denys Shmygal and AFU Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyy said at a Ramstein meeting on 21 July that Ukraine’s critical need is the purchase of air defence systems and ammunition for them.