In times of war, 1 billion euros is quickly spent. That’s the amount of additional military aid to Ukraine that Germany announced on April 15, perhaps softening criticism of the country for not sending tanks.
This financial envelope is part of the promises of several countries, which have undertaken to provide heavy armaments. Two days earlier, the United States pledged additional aid of $800 million [740 millions d’euros], including helicopters and armored personnel carriers. The UK is sending armored patrol vehicles and anti-ship missiles, and the Czech Republic has already delivered mobile rocket launchers and T-72 tanks from its Soviet-era stockpiles. Slovakia, which has already sent Ukraine an S-300 anti-aircraft system, said it may add MiG-29 fighter jets, a Soviet model that Ukrainian pilots are already familiar with.
Material aid or war efforts?
In early March, the United States refused a comparable offer from Poland, which wanted to supply MiG-29s, for fear that it would provoke Russian reprisals and then drag NATO into the war. Emmanuel Macron was all the more explicit: according to him, if heavy weapons were sent, Russia could qualify NATO as “co-belligerent”, that is to say, party to the conflict and therefore a legitimate target under the laws of war. The United States now states that it has no objection to the Slovak proposal.
At the very beginning of the conflict, Ukraine’s allies mainly contented themselves with delivering small arms and portable anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles. It is certain now that the war will drag on forever, which is why these allies are now ready to provide complex equipment that requires months of training. Russian war crimes have also convinced them to deliver the heavy armaments that Ukraine needs to regain control of the occupied territories.
Still, the switch to heavier weapons is a source of angst for some, notably in Germany, which backtracked on its offer to supply Marder infantry fighting vehicles after its ministry
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