Germany, Ukraine boost defence cooperation with Kiev talks
Kiev
Germany and Ukraine are aiming to boost cooperation in the defence sector, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Monday, as he visited Kiev for the first time since taking office last month.
'Our defence cooperation is a real trump card,' Wadephul said at a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha in Kiev.
'It is a logical continuation of our material supplies and we can benefit from it on both sides,' he added. 'With your wealth of ideas and experience, we will also become better.' Wadephul was accompanied in Kiev by high-ranking representatives of German defence companies and said he would take the defence executives to a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
'I believe it is in both sides' interests that we work more closely together here,' he said.
The aim is to establish new joint ventures in the defence industry 'so that Ukraine can produce faster and more for its own defence,' the foreign minister said. After initially supplying mainly weapons, German companies are now increasingly needed in the country, he explained. 'There is a willingness to do this, but some obstacles still need to be overcome, bureaucratic obstacles and other problems for the cooperation.' Sybiha warned that the Russian armed forces of today are different from those that initially invaded Ukraine in 2022.
'They are gaining experience, they are also using new technologies on the battlefield,' he said. This is a danger not only for Ukraine, but also for 'trans-Atlantic security,' Sybiha stated, warning that new air defence systems are needed to protect the cities that are particularly at risk. The trip was kept under wraps for security reasons until his arrival on Monday morning, with Wadephul travelling to Kiev by train alongside representatives from the German arms industry.
The German foreign minister toured a mobile air defence unit before visiting the site of a major Russian attack in mid-June which left 23 people killed, including children, and 134 injured. The strike on a residential building in the Solomyanska district, which also housed an employee of the German embassy, was one of the worst attacks on Kiev of the entire war, and comes amid a renewed Russian bombardment of the Ukrainian capital in recent weeks.
'The freedom and future of Ukraine is the most important task of our foreign and security policy,' Wadephul said.
He added that Germany will 'stand firmly by Ukraine's side so that it can continue to defend itself successfully - with modern air defence and other weapons, with humanitarian and economic aid.'
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