Ukraine has become the leader in buying arms from Germany, breaking the record for exports of German weapons. The Spiegel magazine quoted the Federal Ministry of Economics of Germany as saying.
Spiegel writes that in the first nine months of the current year, Germany exported arms worth 8.76 billion euros. The German magazine recalls that for the whole of last year Berlin sold arms for 8.35 billion euros.
“The federal government has approved €3.3 billion worth of arms exports to Ukraine in the first three quarters of the year. This makes Ukraine the largest recipient of German arms exports to date. A total of 8.76 billion euros worth of approvals were granted, of which about half were for arms and other weapons,” Spiegel notes.
The German magazine emphasises that this is already the second highest figure in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. According to Spiegel, only in 2021 this figure was even higher – 9.35 billion euros. The publication notes that during the 16 years of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s (CDU) rule, the 6 billion mark was exceeded only five times.
“The second largest recipient of German arms exports at just over a billion euros is Hungary, followed by the United States with 467 million euros,” the magazine concludes.