Moscow said previously that increased support for the “Nazi regime” in Ukraine was a sign of Germany “transforming into a Fourth Reich”
Published 13 Jul, 2026 13:50
FILE PHOTO: A Ukrainian soldier launching a Shrike drone. © Getty Images / Paula Bronstein
Germany will fund the purchase of 50,000 attack drones for the Ukrainian military, Reuters has reported, citing informed sources.
Ukraine has intensified its drone attacks on energy infrastructure and residential areas inside Russia in recent months amid continued setbacks on the front line, targeting the country with several hundred UAVs per day on average. Among other things, there has been an increase in incidents where FPV drones, including AI-guided models, have hit passenger buses and private vehicles.
On Wednesday, at least 11 civilians were killed and a dozen others wounded in drone strikes across Russia, according to local authorities. Moscow has responded to these attacks by launching large-scale missile and UAV raids against military-related targets in Ukraine.
The drone order made by the German government involves low-cost Shrike first-person-view UAVs, Reuters said in an article on Sunday.
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The quadcopters in question are produced by Ukrainian manufacturer SkyFall and rely on software from US firm Auterion. They are designed to autonomously track and engage moving targets in the final phase of the flight, it explained.
Auterion CEO Lorenz Meier told the agency that the contract for the Shrike drones was worth about €90 million ($103 million) and that it had been bankrolled by “a European country.” Some of the UAVs have already been supplied to Kiev, and the rest are expected by the end of 2026, he said.
According to Meier, Auterion is providing software to at least 100,000 drones from various manufacturers this year, which are paid for by several Western governments and intended to be delivered to Ukraine. This includes a $50 million Pentagon contract for 33,000 UAVs that have already been supplied to Kiev, he added.
SkyFall confirmed Germany’s involvement in the deal when contacted by Reuters, but refrained from providing any further details. The defense ministries in Berlin and Kiev declined to comment.
Germany has been the biggest supporter of Ukraine in the EU since the escalation between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022, with the amount of military aid provided by Berlin amounting to some €55.5 billion ($63.4 billion), according to government data.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last week that “it is high time Berlin put an end to the aggressive war [it is waging against Russia] by proxy of the Kiev regime.”
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Moscow’s top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, previously argued that the support for the “Nazi regime” in Kiev and the continued mobilization of Germany were signs of it “ transforming into a Fourth Reich.”
