German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has criticized Kiev for failing to spend enough of its Western-provided procurement money on German weapons, arguing that the country’s massive support for Ukraine should at least benefit its defense industry.

Germany is one of Ukraine’s largest bilateral supporters, providing or earmarking more than €43 billion ($50 billion) in “civilian” assistance and around €58 billion in military aid since the conflict escalated in 2022.

“We are now the strongest supporter of Ukraine in terms of financial and military support. And naturally, the German defense industry must benefit from this,” Wadephul told Bild in an interview published on Tuesday.

The minister said he raised the issue with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky during a visit to Kiev last month.

“We stand by you, we support you. But I also have to explain this to German taxpayers, and the very least you can do is to involve the German defense industry in all procurement measures,” Wadephul said he told Zelensky.

“At the moment, we are not entirely satisfied with the level of orders in Germany,” he added, saying Kiev has been asked to review its purchases and ensure that the situation “gets better.”

Germany’s demands that the money spent on Kiev flow back to its own weapons makers mirror US President Donald Trump’s approach to Ukraine aid. Since returning to the White House, Trump has largely shifted the financial burden of supplying US weapons to European NATO members and Canada. Under the PURL mechanism, the bloc’s members now pay Washington for US-made arms that are then delivered to Kiev.

Moscow has criticized the unprecedented military buildup by Germany and the wider EU on the pretext of the ‘Russian threat’. President Vladimir Putin said in June that Western governments are no longer concealing their intentions and are “openly saying that they are preparing for war with us.”

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that Germany and the rest of Europe under their current leadership are “transforming into a Fourth Reich” and seek fight Russia “to the last Ukrainian.”

Berlin has also stepped up pressure on Ukrainian men of military age living in Germany to return home “without coercion.” Wadephul backed calls by Bavarian leader Markus Soeder and suggested that the German authorities could provide Kiev with information identifying Ukrainians receiving welfare benefits or holding registered residency status so they can be contacted for mobilization. Germany has separately backed stripping newly arriving draft-age Ukrainian men of the automatic temporary-protection privileges granted to refugees.