The German Ministry of Defense has approved the supply of armored personnel carriers (APC) to Ukraine from the warehouses of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which are now located in the Czech Republic, the German publication Welt am Sonntag reported on Friday, citing its own sources.

"These are 58 armored personnel carriers… (known as the BMP-1 in GDR times) are equipped with cannon and machine guns and was standard equipment for the Warsaw Pact armies. The armored personnel carriers came into the possession of the German armed forces after reunification and were initially handed over to the Swedish army at the end of the 1990s. It later sold it to a Czech company, which is now trying to sell it to the Ukrainian army. However, a German permit was required for this. This has now taken place, as a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense confirmed to Welt am Sonntag," the publication said.

The publication said that this approval was previously rejected by the federal government. According to information from Welt am Sonntag, the Czech company had already wanted to sell the same armored personnel carriers to the Ukrainian army in 2019. In 2019, however, this was still rejected.

"At that time, the government under Angela Merkel had decided not to deliver any weapons to Ukraine in order not to endanger the dialogue with Russia. This no longer applies since the "turning point" proclaimed by Olaf Scholz. However, the federal government has so far continued to refuse the delivery of artillery and tanks," the publication said.

According to the article, the delivery to the Ukraine will not take place immediately because the armored personnel carriers still have to be repaired beforehand. This will take a few weeks.