Burbock’s visit to Kyiv: what news did the German minister bring?
1 April 15:08
Today, German Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock paid an unannounced visit to Kyiv. This is reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to the information of the German Foreign Office.
Burbock reportedly came to demonstrate Germany’s and Europe’s unwavering and unconditional support for Ukraine.
“Given the stalemate between the US and Russia, it is extremely important that we Europeans show that we support Ukraine without any ifs or buts, and that we support it now more than ever. That is why I came to Ukraine today”,
– the German Foreign Ministry quoted her as saying.
According to the official, Ukraine should know that the next German government will also continue to provide large-scale support to Ukraine.
“The decision of the current and future ruling parties to provide an additional 3 billion euros in short-term support to Ukraine and to provide a further 8.25 billion euros in military support until 2029 is an expression of this strong cross-party solidarity and commitment. The historic amendments to the Basic Law are also a clear indication that we are serious about further supporting Ukraine and our European security,”
– burbock said.
Today, the German government official brought to Ukraine the news of 130 million euros for humanitarian needs.
“Every day Ukrainians continue to fight back against Russia’s most brutal attacks. Every night they defend their country from massive missile and drone attacks… They continue to maintain as much of a normal and everyday life as possible in the midst of a brutal war – for themselves and their families. To help them do so, we are today providing an additional €130 million in humanitarian aid and stabilization funds to Ukraine,”
– burbock said.
In recent days, several European allies of Ukraine have announced significant financial and military assistance. For example, Sweden announced a new military aid package worth $1.6 billion, the largest in its history. This is the largest in its history. The Netherlands has recently announced the expansion of its aid package to Ukraine to $3.5 billion, of which $2 billion is for military aid. USD 3.5 billion, of which USD 2 billion will come this year.
Burbock herself recently announced that Germany will soon provide Ukraine with a new package of weapons.
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How the EU is helping Ukraine
At the Munich Security Conference, the United States made it clear to the European Union that Europe’s security is its own problem. After that, the rhetoric of European officials for several days was filled with loud statements that it was time for Europe to wake up and finally start taking care of its own security.
In the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, European leaders were racing to generate ideas about how they would support Ukraine and how they would help it achieve a just peace. They talked about peacekeepers (who would be in the rear), about closing the skies over Ukraine with British aircraft, about Taurus missiles, and even about the fact that a significant part of the planned 800 billion-dollar EU defense package would go to Ukraine.
A common position on peacekeepers was not reached, talks about Taurus missiles stopped, and meanwhile the EU is making decisions and taking actions that can hardly be called real help to Ukraine in defending Europe.
Just a few days after the Munich conference, it turned out that Belgium would hand over 30 F-16s to Ukraine not by the end of 2025, as planned and promised, but by the end of 2028. The reason was announced: The United States is delaying the delivery of F-35s, which are supposed to replace the F-16s in the Belgian military fleet. 30 F-16s is a significant number, and they could significantly improve Ukraine’s position in the sky, including a very significant boost to its air defense system. Now Ukraine cannot count on these aircraft until 2028.
Later, it turned out that the approved 800 billion euro defense package for Ukraine did not include anything special. It only mentions that Ukrainian defense companies are part of the same “pool” as European ones, and therefore the purchase of weapons from them is a priority along with EU companies.
At the same time, it turned out that during the third year of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, the EU spent more money on Russian fossil fuels than on financial assistance to Ukraine. During this time, the EU bought 21.9 billion euros worth of Russian oil and gas. This amount is one-sixth higher than the 18.7 billion euros that the EU allocated to Ukraine as financial assistance in 2024.
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