Germany okays sale of former GDR infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany has approved the delivery to Ukraine of several dozen infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) that originally belonged to the former communist East Germany amid criticism that Berlin is not sending enough military aid to Kyiv.

Berlin has given the green light for 56 vehicles of the type PbV-501 to be passed on from a Czech company to Kyiv, a spokesman for the defence ministry said on Friday. He was responding to requests for confirmation of a media report that said 58 vehicles armed with canons and machine guns were to be supplied to Ukraine.

Berlin passed the IFVs on to Sweden at the end of the 1990s, which later sold them to a Czech company that now aims to sell them to Kyiv, according to Welt am Sonntag newspaper. Countries aiming to pass on German weapons exports need to apply for approval in Berlin first.