RT reported that over the weekend, Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations Andrey Melnik called on Berlin to provide Kiev with 30% of Germany's military equipment depot, through a letter directly to Friedrich Merz, who is expected to take office as German Chancellor next month.
The letter was later published in Germany's Welt am Sonntag. Specifically, Mr. Melnik said that Ukraine needs about 45 Eurofighter Typhoons, 30 tornadoes, 100 major combat tanks such as Leopard 2, 115 Puma infantry fighting vehicles and 130 Marder vehicles.
Mr. Melnik said that this move could help end the conflict before the end of 2025, and called Mr. Merz one of the "peacemakers".
Mr. Melnik, who was Ukraine's Ambassador to Germany from 2015 to 2022, also called on Berlin to ignore all criticism, including from members of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) - a potential alliance partner of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) - to soon provide 150 Taurus cruise missiles to Kiev.
In the letter, the diplomat also proposed Germany committing to provide Ukraine with 0.5% of GDP per year (equivalent to 21.5 billion euros) by 2029, and recommended that the entire EU apply this contribution as a great warning signal to Russia.
Notably, the call came just days after Germany announced a new large-scale military aid package for Ukraine on April 17.
The new aid includes anti- personnel carrier (MRAP), ammunition for Leopard 2 tanks, Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, missiles for IRIS-T SLM air defense systems, Zuzana 2 self- propelled guns, reconnaissance - attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and many other light weapons.
Also on April 17, the German government announced an updated list of weapons and military equipment that have been handed over to Ukraine, with the total support value to date reaching about 28 billion euros, including 5.2 billion euros ($5.9 billion) from the Bundeswehr's existing reserve. Berlin has also trained more than 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers since the conflict escalated in early 2022.
Previously, on April 11, at a meeting of the Communications Group on Ukraine in Brussels ( Belgian), German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced a military assistance plan for 2025, including: 4 IRIS-T systems, 300 guided missiles, 100 ground reconnaissance radar, 100,000 artillery shells, 300 reconnaissance UAVs, 25 Marder infantry fighting vehicles, 15 Leopard 1A5 tanks and 120 shoulder- defence systems.
