The Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk welcomed the announcement of new German arms deliveries to his country. “We are happy that things have finally started to move and that the ice has been broken,” Melnyk told the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”.
“We have been working behind the scenes for almost three months on the Iris system in particular, now we hope that it will be finished in summer, that training will start in August and that it can be used in October.” Melnyk of a “real breakthrough”.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) promised Ukraine the delivery of a modern air defense system, namely the Iris-T from the manufacturer Diehl, in the Bundestag on Wednesday. Ukraine has long requested the delivery of anti-aircraft systems to protect itself against attacks by Russian fighter jets, helicopters, missiles or drones. In addition, Germany wants to provide four multiple rocket launchers from Bundeswehr stocks and a modern tracking radar, which is intended to locate artillery positions.
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“Finally we can say to Chancellor Scholz from the bottom of our hearts: Thank you!” Melnyk told the “Wirtschaftswoche”. “Now one can really speak of a turning point for Ukraine. We hope for more modern weapon systems from Germany.”
In recent months, Melnyk has repeatedly accused the German government of being too reluctant to supply weapons for Ukraine’s fight against the Russian attack. According to “Wirtschaftswoche”, Melnyk gave the costs for the Iris-T system at 140 million euros per unit.
