The German government has signed contracts with the local arms industry to produce tank ammunition on behalf of Ukraine, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on the margins of a ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.
The government will “immediately” relaunch ammunition production for the Marder armoured personnel carriers that Berlin and other partners are supplying Ukraine with, Pistorius confirmed.
He added that the government had already signed contracts with German producer Rheinmetall on behalf of Ukraine. According to Pistorius, this solution was necessary since parliamentary approval would have been needed for Germany to sign the contracts in his own name, which would have taken too long.
Securing sufficient amounts of tank ammunition has been a key challenge for Ukraine to fight back against Russia’s invasion.
The step helps ensure the “quick supply of Ukraine with desperately needed ammunition,” the Social Democrat minister stressed.
According to information obtained by Süddeutsche Zeitung, 300,000 rounds of ammunition should be delivered to Ukraine from July onwards.
So far, Berlin has delivered a total of 60,000 rounds from its own stocks. The number had been restricted by the fact that Switzerland, where Germany produces large amounts of its ammunition, had blocked the delivery of Swiss-made defence products to Ukraine due to its military neutrality.
On Tuesday, the Swiss government yet again declined a request from Berlin to authorise the delivery of ammunition produced in the country to Ukraine.
(Julia Dahm | EURACTIV.de)
Source: euractiv.com
