Germany to provide $1.22B military package to Ukraine
PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — M795 High Explosive (HE) Projectile 155 mm rounds are prepped and staged to conduct field artillery training on Warrior Base, New Mexico Range, Republic of Korea, March 15, 2015. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Steven Hitchcock via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)
BERLIN (Reuters) - As part of a security agreement signed between Germany and Ukraine, Berlin has prepared a further military support package worth 1.13 billion euros ($1.22 billion) that is focused on air defence and artillery, the German defence ministry said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed the security agreement at a ceremony in the German capital on Friday, the same day that the Munich Security Conference was set to kick off in southern Germany.
"Our security agreement with Ukraine is historic. For the first time in its history, the Federal Republic of Germany is acting as a guarantor state," said Defence Minister Boris Pistorius in a statement from the ministry.
The so-called Munich Package includes provisions for 120,000 rounds of 122-millimetre calibre artillery ammunition and an additional 100 IRIS-T SLS missiles this year, as well as a second SkyNext air defence system set to be delivered in 2025.
In addition, 18 more self-propelled howitzers will be provided from industry stocks in 2026 and 2027, including training, spare parts and ammunition.
The Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzer is one of the most powerful artillery weapons in Bundeswehr (German military) inventories.
It can hit targets at a distance of 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) with standard ammunition and at a distance of up to 100 kilometres with advanced types of ammunition.
($1 = 0.9282 euros)
(Writing by Miranda Murray, editing by Kirsti Knolle)
