MADRID, February 21. /TASS/. Germany has spent 40 billion euros on assistance for Ukraine, said Wolfgang Schmidt, head of the chancellery and federal minister for special tasks.
According to him, Germany has provided more assistance to Ukraine than any other European country. "With expenses on refugees, we have spent more than 40 billion euros," the politician said in an interview with the Spanish El Pais newspaper. "When the war broke out, we did not have a sufficient defense industry capable of meeting all needs," he added.
"Even for a wealthy country like Germany, allocating such funds poses a serious challenge," Schmidt pointed out. "There was no consensus within the coalition government about using new loans to support Ukraine," he said.
According to the German minister, Berlin’s goal has been to make sure that the country’s people support efforts to back Kiev. "An interesting situation emerged at one point, where the media were criticizing us for not providing enough weapons [to Ukraine], while almost half of the population, especially in Germany’s east, was accusing us <...> of prolonging the war," Schmidt concluded.