Germany said it was set to deliver an additional 60 IRIS-T guided missiles to Ukraine to bolster its air-defence capabilities against Russian attacks, dpa learnt on Wednesday.
The 60 million euros (61.8 million dollars) delivery is to be drawn from the stocks of Germany’s Armed Forces, or Bundeswehr.
The decision followed German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius’s visit to Kiev, where he held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday.
The defence minister assured Zelensky of Germany’s continued support following the upcoming parliamentary elections on Feb. 23.
Pistorius also said he hoped that Germany would find a way to provide an additional 3 billion euros to Ukraine.
Negotiations on the aid are ongoing as Germany is currently without a fixed budget for 2025 after the collapse of the three-way government coalition, which triggered the upcoming election.
“This is just a fiscal problem of the government we have to solve. And we are working on that,’’ he said.
He added that he was optimistic that a solution would be found.