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News > Ukraine

Sweden and Germany to Send New Arms Shipments to Kiev

  • Germany and Sweden will send 2,000 Panzerfaust and 5,000 Pansarskott 86, respectively, to Ukraine. March. 23, 2022.

    Germany and Sweden will send 2,000 Panzerfaust and 5,000 Pansarskott 86, respectively, to Ukraine. March. 23, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@MontyBoa99

Published 23 March 2022
Opinion

Sweden and Germany have announced that they will send a new arms shipment to Ukraine, consisting of 7,000 anti-tank weapons. 

To date, both countries have provided Kiev with thousands of anti-armor weapons. Germany, for its part, has rejected previous pledges of pacifism in the face of the military operation Russia launched in Ukraine at the end of February. 

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Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde revealed that her country would send 5,000 anti-tank weapons to Kiev, in addition to the 5,000 already supplied. Moreover, according to the German Press Agency reports, the country's Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht asked the German armed forces to provide 2,000 rocket-propelled grenades from their own stockpiles to Ukraine.   

Annalena Baerbock, German Foreign Minister, has said that the government will press arms manufacturers to ensure further deliveries since Germany's armed forces have been in a state of neglect for many years and its troops reportedly have a shortage of munition, equipment and even boots. 

In light of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Sweden and Germany have pledged to increase defense spending. Sweden has recently announced that it will increase spending to 2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the shortest possible time, which is about one-third of its current level. On the other hand, the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs Olaf Scholz also unveiled that his country will increase defense spending to 2 percent of GDP and invest $113 billion in armaments, including Israeli drones and U.S. F-35 fighter jets.  

NATO requires its members to spend at least 2 percent of GDP on defense, which is a target that many fail to achieve. Ex-president Donald Trump slammed such a deficit on several occasions, blaming European countries, particularly Germany, for taking advantage of U.S. military protection. Otherwise, as opposed to Germany, Sweden is not a member of the U.S.-led military bloc. In this respect, the country's government stressed that it has no plan to join the alliance.  

There is no certainty as to when and how the delivery of this arms shipment by Sweden and Germany will take place. Russia has stated that it considers military supply convoys to Ukraine to be legitimate targets. The German government has said that details regarding these shipments will remain secret to prevent Russian intelligence from tracing their path.

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