United to win: German defense minister unveils 500-million-euro weapons package during visit to Odesa

On May 30, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius visited Odesa and announced a new 500-million-euro military aid package for Ukraine.

DW reported this.

As noted, the German official's visit was not announced for security reasons.

While in Odesa, the German official emphasized that Berlin will continue to support Ukraine in its defense actions.

"We will continue to support you in your defense actions," Pistorius emphasized during a meeting with Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umierov.

Pistorius also announced that the new military aid package will include:

• "a large number" of missiles for air defense systems of the Iris-T type,
• drones for reconnaissance and combat operations in the Black Sea,
• spare parts for artillery systems supplied by Germany,
• spare engines for Leopard tanks,
• one million rounds of ammunition for small arms.

Some of the German aid is already prepared to be sent to Ukraine.

However, the delivery of 18 new wheeled howitzers of a new design will begin as early as 2025. The country will also finance training courses for Ukrainian technicians.

It should be noted that on May 24, Germany announced a new military aid package for Ukraine.

The new package of military aid included:

• 10 Leopard 1 A5 battle tanks (transferred jointly with Denmark);
• Bergepanzer 2 ARV repair and evacuation armored vehicle;
• bridge paver Biber;
• Pionierpanzer Dachs armored engineering vehicle;
• 16 Mercedes-Benz Zetros trucks;
• 4 Wisent 1 engineering machines;
• 34 RQ-35 Heidrun reconnaissance drones;
• 20 VECTOR reconnaissance drones with spare parts;
• 8,500 ammunition for 155-mm artillery;
• 1.75 million ammunition for firearms;
• 111 Haenel CR308 rifles, 80 Haenel HLR338 sniper rifles, 540 Haenel MK556 assault rifles;
• 20 MG3 machine guns on Leopard tanks, Marder armored infantry fighting vehicles, and engineering vehicles.

The government's announcement also states that since the beginning of the full-scale war, Germany has supplied €5.2 billion worth of material from the Federal Armed Forces reserves.

"Also, more than 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers have undergone military training in Germany. The costs of this training currently amount to approximately €282 million. Additional costs, which are not included here, are the result of the treatment of wounded soldiers," the government report emphasized.

Also, on May 24, another German anti-aircraft complex, Iris-T-SLM, arrived. Thus, Ukraine currently has four medium-range Iris-T systems and one short-range Iris-T system.