BERLIN, October 2. /TASS/. Germany approved supplies of 3.3 billion euros worth of weapons to Ukraine over the first nine months of this year, the country’s Economy Ministry said.

"According to preliminary data, individual arms export licenses worth about 8.76 billion euros (4.3 billion euros for weapons and 4.46 billion euros for defense products) were issued in the first three quarters of 2023. The main recipient country is Ukraine, with more than 3 billion euros," the ministry said in a report on weapons exports.

The ministry said the figure is up from 775 million euros worth of licenses issued a year earlier 2022, representing an increase of about 300%. As in the same period last year, licenses for the EU and NATO, alliance-equivalent countries, as well as for Ukraine and the Republic of Korea made up about 90% of the total value (7.9 billion euros out of 8.76 billion euros) of all individual licenses issued. The total value reached 5.64 billion euros a year before.

Licenses for deliveries to EU, NATO and equivalent countries amounted to about 4.33 billion euros (1.57 billion euros for weapons and 2.76 billion euros for other defense products). Of this amount, about 1.03 billion euros was for equipping the Hungarian armed forces. In addition to Ukraine and the Republic of Korea, other third countries accounted for 860 million euros (up from 579 million euros a year before).

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz earlier said that a total of up to 17 billion euros would be spent on arms supplies to Ukraine until 2027 on the basis of the decisions that had been taken. Germany is the second-biggest arms supplier to Ukraine after the US. Kiev now wants to receive long-range Taurus missiles, but the government in Berlin are in no rush to make a decision on this issue.