Wadephul in favour of long-term support for Ukraine
Germany’s foreign minister wants to ensure that reliable financing is in place, even independently of the USA, to fund Ukraine’s defensive struggle against Russia.
Helsingborg (dpa) – German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has called for NATO partners to send a clear signal that they will continue to support Ukraine – independently of the USA. “It’s about ensuring that we always meet Ukraine’s specific ongoing support needs through our European NATO partners and Canada,” Wadephul said at a meeting with NATO colleagues in the Swedish port city of Helsingborg.
Wadephul said that the EU’s loan of 90 billion euros for Ukraine could be counted towards the additional sums for Kyiv. “But it’s clear that further funding is needed. Further efforts are needed.”
The message to Russia, where the war is causing ever deeper rifts, should be: “We will not let up on our support. Ukraine always has the greater staying power. It can always count on our support.”
Wadephul said that Germany was well on its way to reaching the NATO defence spending target of five percent of gross domestic product. “This year we will already exceed four percent, in budgetary terms,” he added. This needed to be translated into capability, he said. “We are thus a country that is taking a leading role in NATO.”
