Germany to halve Ukraine military aid despite possible Trump White House

Germany will halve military aid for Ukraine next year, even with the possibility that Republican candidate Donald Trump could return to the White House and curb support for Kyiv.

German aid to Ukraine will be cut to 4 billion euros (AED 16 billion) in 2025 from around 8 billion euros (AED 32 billion) in 2024, according to a draft of the 2025 budget seen by Reuters.

Germany hopes Ukraine will be able to meet the bulk of its military needs with the $50 billion (AED 183 billion) in loans from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets agreed by the Group of Seven, and that funds earmarked for armaments will not be fully used.

Washington pushed to "front load" the loans to give Ukraine a big lump sum now.

Officials say EU leaders agreed to the idea in part because it reduces the chance of Ukraine being short of funds if Trump returns to the White House.

Alarm bells rang across Europe this week after Trump picked Senator J.D. Vance, who opposes military aid for Ukraine and warned Europe will have to rely less on the United States to defend the continent, as his candidate for vice president.

Trump sparked fierce criticism from Western officials for suggesting he would not protect countries that failed to meet the transatlantic military alliance's defense spending targets and would even encourage Russia to attack them.

Germany has faced criticism for repeatedly missing a NATO target of spending two per cent of its economic output on defense.