‘German weapons save Ukrainian lives every day’ – DefMin Pistorius as parliament continues 2024 federal budget discussions

« Defence Minister Boris Pistorius claimed that ‘German weapons save Ukrainian lives every day’, as the parliament continued the debate on the 2024 budget in the Bundestag on Wednesday.
« Germany is currently Ukraine’s second largest supporter after the US, » he stated. « This support is central to their self-defence. German weapons save Ukrainian lives every day in Ukraine. »
« We support [them] with material, but also with training, and at the end of this year, 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers will have been trained in Germany, and I know from Ukraine that the quality of this training is always praised, » he claimed.
Pistorius added that Germany must support Ukraine ‘at all level’ and ‘for as long as it takes’. He also stated that the country could not ‘compromise’ on its own security.
« We invest in people by investing in the Bundeswehr, by investing in the procurement of modern, suitable equipment for the troops to improve our defence capability in real-time, » he stated.
« We cannot afford to compromise on our own security, especially when a brutal war is raging on our doorstep. This war, let me repeat, is not only an attack on Ukraine’s sovereignty and freedom, but it is a fundamental attack on our collective international human rights, on international security and on our way of life, » he continued.
While Kiev has welcomed ongoing weapons deliveries and training from Germany and other allies, Moscow has accused Western nations of escalating the conflict and claims such supplies will only prolong the fighting and won’t change the outcome.
The proposed Federal budget for next year, around 445 billion euros, amounts to around 30 billion euros less than this year. However it remains around 90 billion higher than the last budget before COVID-19, in 2019. »



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