- Germany reaffirms strong support for Ukraine amidst US aid shifts.
- Berlin pledges substantial military, financial, and humanitarian aid.
- Cooperation on drone production and energy sector to expand.
Christoph Hasselbach, Bernd Riegert
Since the start of the war on Iran, fears have grown in Ukraine that the country could be left to fend for itself in its war of defense against Russia. At the same time, US President Donald Trump has been pushing for a quick peace deal between Russia and Ukraine and has drastically cut US aid to Ukraine. As a result, Germany and other European countries are playing a bigger role.
However, following Viktor Orban’s election defeat in Hungary on Sunday, there is likely to be less pushback from European leaders on continuing support for Ukraine. At the German-Ukrainian government talks in Berlin this Tuesday, the German government intended to send a reassuring message that they can continue to count on Germany.
Apart from the US, Germany is by far the second-largest bilateral donor to Ukraine. The German government has provided nearly €100 billion ($118 billion) in support to the country since the start of the war (as of early 2026). Germany has provided military, financial, technical and humanitarian aid. And this also includes taking in well over one million Ukrainian refugees.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Chancellor Merz promised to advocate for the swift release of the promised €90 billion loan from the European Union to Ukraine. Hungary had previously blocked the disbursement, but with the change of government, a disbursement should be possible by mid-May, according to sources within the German delegation.
Military aid
According to its own figures, the total amount of military aid provided by the German government to Ukraine or earmarked for the coming years (as of December 31, 2025), amounts to approximately €55 billion.
This includes equipment and weapons deliveries from Bundeswehr stocks as well as deliveries from industries financed by the state. This ranges across the entire spectrum of military equipment: from air defense, artillery and combat vehicles such as tanks to small arms and medical supplies.
In addition, Germany has trained more than 24,000 Ukrainian soldiers in Germany since the start of the war.
However, Germany’s assistance has changed focus significantly as the war has progressed. For example, combat tanks — which Germany delivered only after much hesitation — no longer play a significant role in the conflict. Instead, combat drones now dominate the battlefield. Germany is also supplying combat drones to Ukraine, and some are manufactured by German companies in Ukraine.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that the question of whether Germany should send Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine — a topic that has been debated for years — is no longer relevant. During a government question-and-answer session in the Bundestag at the end of March, the chancellor said that Ukraine can now manufacture its own long-range weapons. Ukraine is “better armed today than ever before.” Merz added that the problem is rather a lack of funds, an issue on which Germany is willing to help.
Ukraine and Germany intend to cooperate even more closely on drone production. Various drones, already being manufactured in joint projects, were on display at the entrance to the Chancellery on Monday. This cooperation is to be expanded, said Merz. “No army in Europe has been as battle-tested in recent decades as Ukraine’s. No society has become more resilient than Ukraine. No defense industry has become more innovative than Ukraine’s,” the German chancellor said during Tuesday’s joint press conference.
Civilian and humanitarian aid
According to government figures, Germany’s bilateral civilian aid (in addition to aid provided through the EU) amounts to approximately €39 billion. This includes all non-military aid that bolsters the Ukrainian state’s resilience and operational capacity.
A key focus of the aid is on energy supply, which Russia has increasingly targeted. Since the start of the war, the German government has provided over €1.2 billion in support for the energy sector alone, making it the second-largest donor in this area after the US. This includes repairs and emergency repairs to destroyed facilities.
At the same time, German specialists are working alongside Ukrainian partners to rebuild the energy infrastructure, with a focus on energy efficiency and the expansion of renewable energy sources.
Humanitarian aid efforts are funded in close cooperation with international and non-governmental organizations, ensuring that medical care, food, clean water and other emergency aid reach people — especially those near the front lines — as quickly as possible.
Aid for refugees
More than one million Ukrainian refugees, primarily women and children, have found refuge in Germany since the start of the war. The federal government provides support to states and municipalities in housing and caring for these people, for example, through direct financial assistance or by making federally owned buildings available as shelters.
For example, refugees receive German language courses, training and integration programs, as well as assistance in finding employment. According to data from the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), as of February 2026, approximately half of Ukrainian refugees of working age are employed.
During the government consultations, Chancellor Merz also addressed the large influx of young Ukrainian men to Germany, and especially to Berlin. Since September, young men from Ukraine have been permitted to leave the country. Military service and mobilization for combat only apply from the age of 25. Thousands of young men from Ukraine have taken advantage of this opportunity and registered as war refugees in Germany. They receive food and a bed in a refugee shelter. They can also look for work. Merz demanded that Zelenskyy make greater efforts to bring this group back to Ukraine or prevent their departure.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and Ukrainian Social Security Minister Denys Ulyutin opened an information center in Berlin for Ukrainian war refugees wishing to return home. The so-called “Unity Hub” is intended to help Ukrainians return to their homeland and find housing and employment there.
Reconstruction and reforms
And the German government is already planning the reconstruction of Ukraine in cooperation with Ukraine and partners in the EU and G7. The plan aims to modernize the state and the economy with an eye toward integrating Ukraine into the EU, a process that Germany fundamentally supports.
“Germany supports this goal, even though we both know that we cannot implement it fully in the short term,” said Friedrich Merz on Tuesday in Berlin. Ukraine had proposed January 1, 2027, as the target date. According to Germany, this is probably not feasible, especially given the skepticism of some EU member states.
The new Hungarian government opposes Ukraine’s full EU membership. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated his position in Berlin: “We don’t need an EU ‘light’ or a NATO ‘light’. Our army is needed as a strong army. Nobody needs a Ukrainian army ‘light’,” Zelenskyy said in Berlin.
There have already been several international reconstruction conferences (Ukraine Recovery Conference, URC), including one in Germany in 2024. In 2026, Poland will host the URC, which is scheduled to take place in Gdansk at the end of June.
Resistance from the right and left
Not everyone in Germany agrees with the form and scope of support for Ukraine. Resistance is likely to grow more if Germany is called upon to do even more as the US increasingly withdraws from aid to Ukraine.
Resentment among the German population toward Ukrainian refugees is relatively low, partly because they are considered to be relatively well-integrated. However, there has been criticism of the fact that under the European Union’s “Mass Influx Directive” Ukrainian refugees were in a different category and immediately received higher benefits than other asylum seekers. For this reason, the coalition agreement between the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union(CSU) and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) specifies that Ukrainian refugees who entered Germany after April 1, 2025, will receive lower benefits in the future.
Among most of Germany’s political parties, there remains a broad consensus on supporting Ukraine. This is not the case, however, on the far right and far left sides of the political spectrum. Although for different reasons, both the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) — parts of which are labeled extremist by the domestic intelligence service — and the socialist Left Party view the war and Germany’s support for Ukraine critically. The Left Party claims to be the only truly pacifist party in Germany.
The AfD, on the other hand, has long sought to reestablish close ties with Russia. The party argues that there’s not enough money for Ukraine because of Germany’s empty coffers and the high debt burden on the German people. They have also said that Germany needs cheap energy from Russia again. This is an argument that is gaining traction right now, especially given the high fuel prices caused by the war against Iran. German officials are worried that the AfD, in particular, could use this to their advantage in the state elections in the eastern states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt this September.
Disclaimer: This report first appeared on Deutsche Welle, and has been republished on ABP Live as part of a special arrangement. Apart from the headline, no changes have been made in the report by ABP Live.
