A senior German official has sounded the alarm over the country’s depleted air defence missiles after shipping the equivalent of £52 million (€60 million) to Ukraine last year. Germany has been one of the largest backers of Ukraine in its war against Russia since the invasion of February 2022, acting as Europe’s top supplier of military aid and the second-largest globally after the US.

Foreign minister Johann Wadephul has sounded the alarm over the consequent blow to the country’s own missile stockpile, however, as the conflict in eastern Europe continues to rage. Responding to media questions about Ukraine‘s shortfall in air defence capabilities, Mr Wadephul said it was “partly because we don’t have any more”. He added: “What there still is … comes from American production. We have made everything available that we somehow had.”

Germany has provided billions of pounds in aid to Ukraine over the last four years, including battle tanks, combat vehicles and air defence systems.

Last year, Berlin signalled its ongoing commitment to supporting the war-torn region by signing a £52 million (€60 million) shipment of anti-aircraft missiles from its reserves, in response to President Volodymyr Zelensky‘s continued calls for assistance.

The Ukrainian leader made a fresh plea for air defence support earlier this month, urging NATO allies to transfer unused stockpiles to Kyiv after several air defence systems ran out of ammunition.

Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv in early February, he said: “There is, of course, internal legislation that limits how much can be handed over. Every country has minimum stockpile requirements that must remain in storage.”

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He added: “But honestly, what rules, what laws are we talking about when we are at war and we desperately need this?”

“In some countries, thank God, there is no war, and they have missiles of all types – short-range, medium-range – just sitting there. So wha are they for? That is the real question, forgive me for speaking so bluntly.”

While Russian and Ukrainian delegations meet in Geneva for another round of US-brokered peace talks, Kyiv’s army remains locked in a war of attrition with Moscow’s bigger forces along the roughly 750-mile front line.

Overnight on Monday, Russia used almost 400 long-range drones and 29 missiles of various types to strike 12 regions of Ukraine, injuring nine people including children, according to President Zelensky.

He also said tens of thousands of residents were left without heating and running water in the southern port city of Odesa following the barrage.