01/19/2024
The ruling coalition in Germany is doing everything possible to increase the capacity of the defense complex. In particular, the production of ammunition to provide Ukraine with the necessary support.
This was stated by representatives of coalition parties during a discussion on the topic “Strengthening support for Ukraine: strengthening industry, a stable increase in production and supplies of ammunition.” It took place in the Bundestag .
Deputy Jo Weingarten from the ruling Social Democratic Party informed that since February 2022, Germany has provided Ukraine with a variety of assistance totaling more than 27.8 billion euros. The military contribution was very important: about 6 billion euros in 2022-2023 and 7.5 billion planned for 2024.
According to the deputy, since March 2022, Germany has transferred more than 45 thousand artillery shells to Ukraine. By March 2024, the same amount will be transferred, and in the period from April to December – the next 171.7 thousand.
Weingarten emphasized that this year, Ukraine’s supplies in this area will be increased fourfold. According to him, this pace of production will be continued and even accelerated.
“In recent months, conditions have been created for signing contracts for the supply of ammunition, and only the 3 largest contracts with large arms companies will make it possible to supply about 1 million artillery shells,” the politician said.
He emphasized that “German weapons and logistics support play a decisive role in Ukraine’s fight” and Berlin is grateful to the President of Ukraine for his high assessment of German assistance.
MP Sarah Nanni of the Green Party focused on the political aspect, emphasizing that Germany has finally understood what Russia is trying to achieve: “Vladimir Putin wants to build an empire in Europe dominated by Russia and at the same time constantly threatens with nuclear weapons. That is why it is so important that the EU and NATO continue to stand on the side of Ukraine,” the deputy emphasized.
The discussion was initiated by the opposition faction of the CDU/CSU, which accused the government coalition of doing “not enough and slowly.” In particular, deputy Norbert Roentgen cited data: Russia uses 10 thousand artillery shells every day, while Ukraine has only 2 thousand shells every day.
“The refusal to hand over the Taurus missiles is a mixture of the reluctance of the SPD and the chancellor and the invariability of the liberals and the Greens, who betrayed their principles,” he said, taking into account the results of the coalition vote on the Conservative proposal to transfer such weapons to Ukraine.
Representatives of the ruling coalition attacked the CDU/CSU bloc with populism and the lack of constructive proposals amid continuous criticism. They recalled that it was during the 16 years that the Conservatives were in power that there was a significant reduction in military production, in particular, the production of the same Taurus missiles was completely stopped.
As OBOZ.UA reported, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has affected the defense sector of Slovakia, especially the ammunition manufacturer ZVS Holding, one of the owners of which is the country’s Ministry of Defense. In the first seven months of 2023, ZVS Holding reportedly generated €44 million in revenue, compared to €40 million for the whole of 2022.
It should be noted that Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, before his next election to office, opposed the sale of weapons to Ukraine. But after being re-elected, he expresses a different opinion.
“If some company wants to produce weapons and export them somewhere, then, of course, no one will interfere with it,” the politician now says.
As OBOZ.UA reported, with the exception of F-16 fighters and ATACMS long-range missiles, the Ukrainian Armed Forces already have virtually the entire range of weapons that the West can provide. But the most important thing is not the list, not specific samples, but their number.
We have only verified information in our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Don’t be fooled by fakes!
“Weingarten emphasized that this year, Ukraine’s supplies in this area will be increased fourfold. According to him, this pace of production will be continued and even accelerated.”
That is good and I hope they can achieve this. I also hope that other countries, like Finland, Norway, Spain, France, et al., will be able to up their production rates for weapons and ammo to send to Ukraine. If not, then the rest of Europe will one day be forced to man the trenches when the roaches come swarming in.
“Representatives of the ruling coalition attacked the CDU/CSU bloc with populism and the lack of constructive proposals amid continuous criticism. They recalled that it was during the 16 years that the Conservatives were in power that there was a significant reduction in military production, in particular, the production of the same Taurus missiles was completely stopped.”
That is very true. It was under the loser and pro-putin asset Merkel that Germany’s defenses and defense industries were taking terrible blows. But, this is no reason why the country should refuse to send Ukraine the Taurus. There is still far too much fear in Scholz’s rubber spine.
Sure, the German government is aware of the ammunition shortage and tries to counter it. Production capacities will be increased. However, there’s limits to this, because there’s a general shortage of qualified workers and engineers in the industrial sector. Defense contractors are unable to find as many applicants as they could employ, they’re already hiring every suitable guy. So, sorry, but better don’t expect any miracles.
But, didn’t Germany import a huge pool of skilled workers, doctors and engineers from Africa and muslim countries since 2015?
Some migration activists say so, but instead all we get from there are guys barely qualified for delivering pizza. That’s great for Uber Eats, but not for the industry.