BERLIN, September 6. /TASS/. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced that Berlin would send another 12 Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzers worth an estimated 150 mln euros to Ukraine.

"Six cutting-edge artillery weapons that have a range of over 30 km will be supplied this year, and six more next year," the German defense chief told reporters on the sidelines of a Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) meeting at the Ramstein air base in Germany, according to DPA.

In addition, Pistorius said, his country and its European allies would like to send 77 Leopard 1A5 tanks to Ukraine as soon as possible. The defense minister said that Germany had already supplied 58 such main battle tanks to Kiev jointly with Denmark.

Earlier, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced an order to procure eight more medium-range IRIS-T SLM and nine short-range IRIS-T SLS systems for Ukraine. Ukraine will receive two IRIS-T SLMs and two IRIS-T SLSs as early as this year and the remaining units beginning from 2025, the chancellor specified. Bloomberg reported citing an unnamed German government official that all 17 units will be supplied to Kiev by 2026.

Germany is the second largest weapons supplier to Ukraine after the US. The country has so far allocated funds for military support to Kiev and has committed to future spending of about 28 bln euros. Under the 2025 draft budget, 4 bln euros worth of military assistance will be channeled to Ukraine, or half of the current year’s allocations. Russia has repeatedly said that pumping more weapons into Ukraine will not weaken Russia’s resolve and will not change the course of the special military operation.