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Ruling German coalition agrees to supply heavy weapons to Kiev, lawmaker says

On February 26, the German government approved arms supplies to Ukraine

BERLIN, April 13. /TASS/. The ruling German coalition (the Social Democratic Party, the Greens and the Free Democratic Party, FDP) agreed to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine, the FDP’s defense expert Marcus Faber wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.

"Germany will now quickly deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine. I am glad that we, the FDP’s faction, managed to convince our coalition partners," he wrote.

Earlier, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (the Greens) stressed that Kiev needs heavy weapons and now is not the time to come up with excuses in this matter. However, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (the Social Democratic Party of Germany) has been postponing making this decision despite the growing pressure on the part of his coalition partners and foreign allies.

On February 26, the German government approved arms supplies to Ukraine. Berlin made a decision to send to Kiev 1,000 units of anti-tank armaments and 500 Stinger man-portable air-defense systems (MPADS). Earlier on the same day, it became known that Germany permitted the Netherlands and Estonia to send obsolete German-made armaments to Ukraine. On March 2, it was reported that the weapons have been handed over to Ukraine. On March 14, the German authorities announced that to avoid additional risks they won’t provide information on arms supplies to Ukraine anymore.

On March 23, Germany’s DPA news agency reported, citing its sources, that Germany intended to provide Ukraine with 2,000 hand-held grenade launchers from their supplies. On March 25, it became known that 1,500 Strela MPADS, 100 MG3 machine guns and 8 mln bullets were delivered from Germany to Ukraine.

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