German initiative to strengthen Ukrainian air defence has raised almost €1 billion

A German initiative to strengthen Ukraine's air defence has raised almost a billion euros for this goal.

The German Foreign Ministry noted that Baerbock has arrived in Ukraine at a crucial moment, as a few days ago, the Russian Federation launched a new offensive on Kharkiv. The Foreign Minister's trip aims to ensure that, despite the deterioration of the situation in the combat zone, Germany and Europe will continue to stand firmly on Ukraine's side and will not stop supporting it.

"In this context, we should also consider the global initiative to strengthen air defence, which the Foreign Minister recently launched with Defence Minister Pistorius.

Almost one billion euros have already been raised to provide additional support to Ukrainian air defence," the report says.

The foreign ministry noted that work within the framework of the initiative continues and added that this initiative also protects the security of EU countries from Russian aggression.

"Our support is rooted in the deep conviction that Ukraine will win this war. Putin is speculating that we will eventually run out of steam, but we have staying power.

Germany, along with many other countries worldwide, is standing rock-solid by Ukraine's side. The people of Ukraine can count on this in the long term," Baerbock said.

Several states supported the German initiative to search for air defence equipment for Kyiv at the 22nd meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (Ramstein format) on 20 May.

On 17 April, the German government launched an initiative to find additional air defence equipment that could be sent to Ukraine. Berlin later reported discussing funding for the initiative with Denmark and the Netherlands.

In April, Belgium also announced the allocation of €200 million to the German initiative, and in May, Canada promised to give more than US$55 million