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Germany will finance a €150 million package of weapons for Ukraine through the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) iniative, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Friday.
The PURL initiative was launched in July by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and US President Donald Trump and came following criticism from the White House that Europe needed to shoulder more of the responsibility for Ukraine’s security.
The new financial arrangement sees 17 mostly European allies buy US-made weapons, which are then transferred to Ukraine. It aims to ensure a predictable flow of lethal and non-lethal support, including air defence.
PURL is key to enacting Europe and Canada’s commitment to taking on the majority share of the burden for Ukraine’s security as it continues to defend itself from Russia’s full-scale invasion.
New data on Western military aid to Ukraine shows that it plunged by 43% in July and August compared to the first half of the year, according to Germany’s Kiel Institute, which tracks defence and financial support to Kyiv.
In a post on Instagram on Friday, Pistorius said the German parliament had agreed to a draft budget for 2026 which includes €11.5 billion in support for Ukraine next year, an increase of €3 billion.
The draft was agreed to after a 15-hour session that ran into the early hours of Friday and the Bundestag is due to vote on it later this month, Pistorius said.
Possible Taurus delivery?
The weapons systems being purchased in the USA include the Patriot air defence system and missiles.
Pistorius did not comment on whether Germany will also provide Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles.
“Ukraine is facing its fourth winter of war as a result,” Pistorius said after talks with his counterparts from Poland, Italy, France and the UK.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas was also at the Group of Five (E5) meeting and Ukraine’s Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal attended by video link.
Putin’s aim with repeated strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid is to make the winter months as uncomfortable as possible for Ukrainians and try to break their morale, Pistorius said, adding that Germany remains ready to lead the way in supporting Kyiv.
“Ukraine can continue to rely on us,” he said.
Pistorius said that Germany would continue to invest in the Ukrainian defence industry.
In addition to Ukrainian security, hybrid warfare was another topic of the talks. Russia is trying to “unsettle and frighten our societies,” Pistorius said, referring to a string of airspace violations in NATO and EU countries in recent weeks.
Airports in Europe have already had to be evacuated and closed several times due to drone overflights.
Pistorius said that “we must also act as a team” when it comes to drone defence and that a joint procurement of cost-effective drone defence should be presented by the next Group of Five meeting in Warsaw at the beginning of next year.
However, so far there has been no solid proof to link the drone overflights with Russia.
Pistorius said that “you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes” to work out who would benefit from the airspace violations.
Regarding the drone overflights, UK Defence Secretary John Healy confirmed that a delegation of British drone experts sent to Belgium will continue.
He also confirmed that members of the 12th Regiment of the Royal Artillery will be deployed to Finland to carry out drone defence operations in Finland.
