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German economy minister says the step reflected the ‘significant deterioration of the gas supply situation’.

Germany has moved closer to rationing gas as it raised the alert level under an emergency plan after Russia slashed supplies to the country.

“Gas is now a scarce commodity in Germany,” economy minister Robert Habeck told reporters at a press conference on Thursday.

Triggering the second “alarm” level under its action plan brings Germany a step closer to the third and final stage that could see gas rationing in Europe’s top economy.

The development reflected a “significant deterioration of the gas supply situation”, Habeck said.

Germany, like several other European countries, is highly reliant on Russian energy imports to meet its needs.

Russian energy giant Gazprom last week reduced supplies to Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline by 60 percent due to what the company said was a delayed repair. But Germany has brushed aside the technical justification for the move, instead calling it a “political decision”.

Russia was using gas “as a weapon” against Germany in retaliation for the West’s support for Ukraine following Moscow’s invasion, Habeck said, with the aim of “destroying” European unity.

Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane, reporting from Berlin, said the implications for the government’s decision will vary between household consumers and industry.

“For those residential homeowners, for people living in rented accommodation it does not mean that their gas supply is threatened right now,” Kane said.

“For those consumers in industries it is more serious because the government here is saying ‘We believe that a time is coming where we will have to potentially ration gas supply’ and bear in mind that during summer in Europe, residential gas users are not going to be heating their houses much, but the industrial sector will use and is using a large amount of gas the entire year round,” he added.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/23/germany-raises-gas-alert-level-after-russia-cuts-supply

Germany unveils list of military equipment and weapons supplied to Ukraine

After several months of discussions on the military aid brought to Ukraine, Germany finally unveils a list of military equipment and weapons delivered to Ukraine, as well as the combat vehicles that will be delivered to the Ukrainian armed forces in the next few weeks.

In a united response to Russia's war on Ukraine, which started on 24 February 2022, EU (European Union) Member States agreed to supply Ukraine with military equipment, including equipment designed to deliver lethal force.

As of 16 May 2022, European Member States had agreed to make available €1.5 billion through the European Peace Facility (EPF) to fund assistance measures aimed at supporting the capabilities and resilience of the Ukrainian armed forces.

A further €500 million in assistance was proposed on 13 May 2022 and is likely to be adopted very soon, bringing the amount up to €2 billion. Accordingly, the EPF will pay for some of the equipment Member States have provided or will provide to Ukraine. This is a first in the EU's history, which has never jointly financed the provision of weapons to a third country.

Today, Germany is the second country in Europe that has supplied the largest military aid to Ukraine, with a total of 1,342 weapon systems delivered to the Ukrainian armed forces, behind Poland which has provided 1,470 pieces of military equipment

List of military equipment and weapons already delivered to Ukraine:

- 3,000 Panzerfaust 3 anti-tank rockets
- 14,900 anti-tank mines
- 500 STINGER man-portable anti-aircraft missiles
- 2,700 STRELA
- 16 million rounds of handgun ammunition
- 50 bunker fists
- 100 MG 3 machine guns with 500 spare barrels and bolts
- 100,000 hand grenades
- 5,300 explosive charges
- 100,000 meters of detonating cord and 100,000 detonators
- 350,000 detonators
- 23,000 combat helmets
- 15 pallets of clothing
- 178 motor vehicles (trucks , mini buses, SUVs)
- 100 tents
- 12 power generators
- 6 pallets of material for explosive ordnance disposal
- 125 binoculars
- 1,200 hospital beds
- 18 pallets of medical supplies, 60 surgical lights
- Protective clothing, surgical masks
- 10,000 sleeping bags
- 600 shooting glasses
- 1 radio frequency system
- 3,000 field telephones with 5,000 reels of field cord and carrying equipment
- 1 field hospital (joint project with Estonia)
- 353 night vision goggles
- 4 electronic anti-drone devices
- 165 binoculars
- Medical supplies (including rucksacks, first-aid kits)
- 38 laser range finder
- Fuel diesel and petrol (current delivery)
- 10 tons of AdBlue
- 500 pieces of wound dressings to stop bleeding
- 500 pieces of food rations
- Food: 2,025 pallets (68 truckloads) with 360,000 rations one-pack (EPa)
- MiG-29 spare parts
- 30 armored vehicles

List of military equipment and weapons to be delivered to Ukraine in the next few weeks:

- 10,000 rounds of artillery ammunition
- 53,000 rounds of anti-aircraft ammunition
- 5.8 million rounds of handgun ammunition
- 7 Panzerhaubitzen 2000 155mm tracked self-propelled howitzers including adaptation, training and spare parts (joint project with the Netherlands)
- 5,000 combat helmets
- 8 mobile ground radars and thermal imaging devices
- 8 recon drones
- 10 protected vehicles
- 7 jammers
- 8 electronic anti-drone devices
- 4 mobile, remote-controlled and protected demining devices
- 65 refrigerators for medical supplies
- 1 vehicle decontamination point
- 100 auto-injectors
- 14 anti-drone sensors and jammers
- 10 anti-drone cannons
- 32 Recon Drones
- 54 M113 tracked armored personnel carriers with armament (systems from Denmark, conversion financed by Germany)
- 30 GEPARD anti-aircraft self-propelled tracked armored vehicles including around 6,000 rounds of anti-aircraft ammunition
- Air Defense System IRIS-T SLM
- Artillery detection radar COBRA
- 80 Toyota pickup
- 3 MARS M270 MLRS Multiple Launch Rocket Systems with ammunition
- 100,000 first aid kits
- 22 trucks

https://www.armyrecognition.com/defense_news_june_2022_global_security_army_industry/germany_unveils_list_of_military_equipment_and_weapons_supplied_to_ukraine.html