Germany to further aid Ukraine with $199 mln

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Germany has pledged an additional 200 million euros ($199.02 million) for Ukraine, though this time it's for aid programs for internally displaced refugees, claimed German Development Minister Svenja Schulze on Sunday.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal will visit Berlin on Monday to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and discuss the flow of more money into Ukraine.

"I will speak to Prime Minister Shmyhal about how we can continue to support the Ukrainian government in caring for the displaced people," Schulze said.

Schulze also claimed that the money was "intended to help the displaced people in Ukraine to continue to be able to provide for themselves with the essentials."

Data by the United Nations' International Organization for Migration showed that around seven million people have been internally displaced in Ukraine since the start of the war.

A German government official said last month the European Union sought to finance an aid package worth some 8 billion euros by September for Ukraine, which goes to show that the EU found it easier to finance arms than aid for refugees.

Despite pledging more assistance, senior EU officials admit that there will most likely be a "crunch point" in the fall or early winter when EU countries begin to feel acute domestic economic pain as a result of the crisis.

Macron said that France will continue to support Ukraine with military, financial, and humanitarian aid until "victory" has been achieved on terms acceptable to Kiev. But behind these public statements of support for Ukraine lies a tug-of-war between Germany, France, and — before Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s downfall — Italy on the one hand, and Poland, the Baltics, and Nordics on the other.

The countries of the EU, mainly France and Germany, do not know what a "victory" might entail, and they continue to blindly aid Ukraine without knowing whether the war can be "won" without any escalations that directly involve NATO or the EU, or even Russia's use of unconventional weapons.

Germany is Ukraine's biggest European backer, with Berlin continuing to transfer weaponry to Ukraine that even its own forces do not have.

German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, reported by Germany's DPA news agency, said in July the German military is running out of weapons that can be sent to Ukraine, but Ukraine may still rely on Germany's assistance in the future.

Russia, on the other hand, has been providing shelters for Ukrainian refugees, taking up as many as 25,000 people in one day.

Russia has also been opening humanitarian corridors from Ukraine into its territories to help with the flow of refugees as well as send humanitarian aid into the country. Kiev, however, has refused to cooperate with Moscow's humanitarian efforts, claiming that it was "dangerous".