Rheinmetall chief says military depots emptied in EU and Ukraine

The head of the German arms company Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger, has said that the warehouses in Europe and Ukraine have run out of weapons. Papperger said this in an interview with the Financial Times (FT) on February 18.

According to the newspaper, between 2021 and 2024, the total defense spending of EU countries increased by more than 30% to reach about 326 billion euros, which is about 1.9% of the bloc's GDP. U.S. President Donald Trump has put intense pressure on NATO members to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP.

Papperger made the remarks as "European leaders were shocked" by Donald Trump's decision to call Vladimir Putin to begin immediate negotiations on an agreement to end the conflict in Ukraine without consulting Europe or Kiev.

While European leaders were trying to decide how to secure the continent after US threats to drastically cut support, the head of Rheinmetall said the company would lose nothing in the event of a ceasefire in Ukraine, as demand for weapons in Europe would remain high, Gazeta.Ru reported.

"The Europeans and Ukrainians have nothing in their warehouses," he said.

Papperger said his company would benefit even in the event of a ceasefire as Europe would continue to invest in weapons while facing the threat of Russian aggression. "Even if <conflict> in Ukraine stops, some people think we have a very peaceful future ahead of us, I think they are wrong," he said.

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The day before, Bloomberg reported that the European Union (EU) is working to negotiate a major new military aid package for Ukraine. The Institute for the World Economy (IfW) said that over the past three years, the West has allocated about €267bn in aid to Ukraine. It is specified that about €130bn is military aid, €118bn is financial support and the remaining €19bn is humanitarian aid.