Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States together will supply ten MARS II (M270) multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine.

This was announced by Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) after a meeting of the Ukraine contact group in Brussels, which coordinates arms deliveries to Kyiv.

"This is an extensive package with long-range artillery weapons, just like Ukraine needs now," Lambrecht said.

The Bundeswehr will provide three launchers with "several hundred missiles" from its own stocks, the United Kingdom will also provide three, and the United States will provide four systems.

"With this levy, I've gone to the limit of what I can do in order not to endanger the fact that we can no longer guarantee the defense of the state and the alliance as the Bundeswehr,"

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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Chancellor Olaf Scholz had announced the delivery of multiple rocket launchers in the Bundestag at the beginning of June;

in government circles at the time there was talk of four systems.

London and Washington had also promised this type without naming a number.

It is an upgraded variant of the MARS system, which was procured at the end of the Cold War and was intended to be used against larger tank formations.

The current announcement is enough to equip a battery with eight launchers and two backup systems.

However, a few hundred rockets are only enough for a few days of combat.

The MARS II system can shoot 84 kilometers and hit targets with an accuracy of up to seven meters.

This range is "responsible," said Lambrecht when asked whether Ukraine could also use it to attack targets in Russia.

The training should start in June, so that the systems could be delivered to the Ukraine at the end of July or beginning of August.

Before the contact group met, Kyiv had called for significantly more multiple rocket launchers.

Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Monday that the country needed 300 such systems, as well as 1,000 155-millimeter howitzers, 500 tanks, 2,000 armored vehicles and 1,000 drones.

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he had promised his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy a security package worth more than $1 billion in a phone call.