Germany needs to order new Leopard tanks quickly to replace those going to Ukraine, defence minister Boris Pistorius said on Wednesday, adding he did not care where the money came from.

“For me, the crucial fact is that we have to order new tanks, not in a year, but swiftly, so that production can begin,” he told reporters on a visit to a tank battalion in the western town of Augustdorf, which has been chosen to supply 14 of its Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv.

“Where will the money come from? Let me casually put it like this: Frankly, I don’t care. It is essential that we can provide them (the tanks) quickly,” Pistorius said.

The minister was responding to the question of whether he was pushing for an increase in a €100-billion special fund set up for the modernisation of the military following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Pistorius said he had held his first talks with defence industry managers on Tuesday but declined to provide details.

“It was about figuring out who can do what — and what do both sides expect from each other,” he said, adding there was an agreement to meet regularly in future.

Pistorius aims to accelerate arms procurement and ramp up ammunitions supplies in the long term after almost a year of arms donations to Ukraine has depleted German military stocks.

Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany was €20 billion short of reaching Nato’s target for ammunitions stockpiling.

Asked about calls to reintroduce conscription, which was suspended in 2011 partly to save money, Pistorius said such a move would not plug short-term gaps in the Bundeswehr’s manpower.

“The suspension of conscription was a mistake but not one that we can correct swiftly. We have other challenges to master right now, which will cost a lot of money, time and energy - and tackling these is my priority.”

New Russian offensive

As western allies rush heavier weapons to help Ukraine reclaim occupied territory, Moscow’s forces are intensifying assaults along the eastern front in what President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has described as the opening moves of a new Russian offensive.

Both sides have been readying for heavier ground combat for months, with Moscow expected to press on with its goal of capturing the entire Donbas region of eastern Ukraine and Kyiv aiming to drive Russian troops out of the country completely.

Now, with Russia pounding away with artillery at a rate not recorded since September, and dispatching tens of thousands of soldiers to test Ukrainian defences up and down a 140-mile stretch of the front line in Donbas, Zelensky said that Russia’s intensified assault was an effort to seize the initiative.

“Russia really wants some kind of big revanche,” Zelensky said this week. “I think it has started.”