Welt: Germany slows down arms supplies to Ukraine

The German government is slowing down the supply of weapons to Ukraine, including the Iris-T air defense system, which was promised earlier, Welt writes, Report informs via RBC-Ukraine.

The German media outlet, citing sources in the Ukrainian government, claims that in early July, Kyiv applied to purchase 11 Iris-T SLM complexes from Diehl Defense. The supply of weapons had to be carried out directly.

According to media reports, one system costs about 140 million euros; that is, the total transaction amount is about 1.5 billion euros.

The German Ministry of Economy gave a preliminary positive response and sent an application to the Federal Security Council. However, for three weeks, the officials did not make a decision.

The Council consists of nine ministers who meet behind closed doors. Welt reports that the Council either did not agree to the supply of weapons to Ukraine or agreed with reluctance.

In early June, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised to give the Iris-T system to Ukraine. According to him, the delivery was to take place in "the coming weeks." But the media say that Ukraine will receive weapons only by the end of the year.