Germany has approved €3 billion in new military aid to Ukraine, just days ahead of planned US-brokered talks with Moscow and Kiev on a limited ceasefire.

The money is earmarked for defence equipment for the country, which is fighting Russian forces, including artillery munitions and air defence systems, government officials said.

The €3 billion now allocated, after months of delays, is in addition to the €4 billion in military aid to Ukraine already planned in the 2025 budget.

A further €8.3 billion has been earmarked for Kiev for the period 2026-2029 by the parliamentary budget committee, although this could be supplemented by more spending from the new large fiscal package that passed the final hurdle on 21 March.

Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said the latest package would include units of the German-made Iris-T air defence systems, which have not yet been built and will be delivered over the next two years.

Since Russia began its full-scale invasion more than three years ago, Germany has been the second-largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine, worth about 28 billion euros so far, after the United States.

But the situation has changed dramatically since US President Donald Trump asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war and freeze military aid to Ukraine, while questioning the future strength of ties with NATO.

On March 21, Russia and Ukraine traded accusations of massive night raids, three days before the two countries held talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia on how to stop the war.

Both sides said they agreed to a 30-day pause in strikes on energy targets, though they continued their airstrikes with unabated force and each repeatedly accused the other of violating the cease-fire, which was not formally agreed.

Germany's incoming chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has pushed through a "bazooka" of spending worth hundreds of billions that also loosens Germany's so-called debt brake to bolster its own armed forces and continue to support Ukraine.

Merz's conservatives are in coalition talks with outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz's GSDP, which has also promised that Germany will continue to support Kiev.

Ukraine "can count on us and we will never leave it alone," Scholz told the European Council summit late on 20 March.

"It will also need a strong army in peacetime and should not be jeopardised by any peace agreement."

The €3 billion package was delayed for months after Scholz's three-party coalition broke up last November as a result of bitter fighting, mostly over fiscal issues.

Earlier today, the upper house of the German parliament gave its final approval to easing Germany's fiscal constraints on defence spending and a €500 billion infrastructure fund. | BGNES