The situation at a glance: Pistorius expects a quick agreement on aid to Ukraine

Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has promised Ukraine support beyond the federal election on February 23rd. He also expects the federal government to reach an agreement soon on additional aid worth three billion euros, he said at the end of a visit to Kiev. In the ARD “Tagesthemen” and in the ZDF “heute journal”, the SPD politician pointed out that there is still no regular federal budget for 2025 and that the federal government is operating with a provisional budget. “It’s not trivial to raise the money,” he emphasized on ZDF.

The minister defended Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) against allegations. “I see no reason to assume that the Chancellor is slowing down here,” said Pistorius on ARD. Scholz rejects cuts elsewhere to finance further arms deliveries to Ukraine.

Pistorius: Kyiv does not doubt German support

Pistorius met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his unannounced visit. With a view to the upcoming change of power in Washington, Pistorius said that there are concerns in Ukraine as to whether the country will continue to receive support from the USA. Since the war began in February 2022, the United States has been Ukraine’s main supporter and largest arms supplier.

“But people are actually not worried at all about the support of their European partners and especially not when it comes to Germany,” Pistorius stated on ARD. Pistorius was convinced that if support from the US government were to be lacking in the future, Europe could compensate. “But it would be a feat.”

Zelenskyj thanked and underlined the importance of military aid from Germany. “Germany accounts for 16 percent of the total support from all countries. This has to be taken very seriously,” he said in his evening video speech.

Germany is the second most important supporter militarily and financially after the USA. In recent weeks, Ukraine has received more than 1,500 combat and reconnaissance drones as well as tens of thousands of rounds of artillery ammunition from Germany. This emerges from the federal government’s updated list of military aid.

Russia threatens after serious Ukrainian attacks

As has often been the case since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression, there was again an air alert in many regions of Ukraine on Wednesday night. The Air Force located Russian combat drones in the sky. Russian planes also dropped glide bombs on the northern Ukrainian region of Sumy. There was a rocket attack in the Zaporizhia region.

At the same time, further Ukrainian drone attacks were reported from Russia, for example in the Tambov region. On Tuesday night, Ukraine carried out the most massive drone attack to date on Russian industrial facilities and defense plants. The Russian Defense Ministry said long-range Western missiles were also used in the shelling of an ammunition factory in the Bryansk region of western Russia. Such Western-backed strikes by Ukraine have not gone unanswered.

The targets of the drone attacks were up to 1,100 kilometers deep in Russian territory, for example in the cities of Kazan and Engels on the Volga. The details provided by both warring parties could not be independently verified.

Anger over detachments to the infantry

On the front in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian defenders continue to be under pressure from the advancing Russian troops. Above all, there is a lack of infantrymen for defense. But in the Ukrainian army the dispute over the assignment of Air Force soldiers to the infantry is becoming increasingly louder. The General Staff justified the action as a “necessary step” and the ground troops had to be reinforced with soldiers from other branches of the armed forces.

In his video message, Zelensky addressed the discontent in the Air Force. He said he had ordered that under no circumstances should the number of combat units needed for anti-aircraft defense or air strikes be reduced.

Putin confidant talks about the end of Ukraine

Meanwhile, a close confidant of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin spoke openly about the possible end of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova as independent states. Both countries got into crisis because of anti-Russian policies, Nikolai Patrushev, former secretary of the Russian Security Council, told the Moscow newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.

“It is not excluded that Ukraine will cease to exist this year,” he said. In the case of the Republic of Moldova, it is likely “that it will become another state or cease to exist altogether.” Patrushev (73) is a close companion of Putin and an advocate of Russia’s great power claims, even if he has only been responsible for shipping policy in the Kremlin since 2024.