Germany 'hopeful' US will finally approve Ukraine aid, Baerbock says

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she is optimistic that US lawmakers will approve a long-delayed military aid package for Ukraine, after a plan to get the funding bill through Congress was unveiled.

Speaking on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers meeting on the Italian island of Capri, she said there were "hopeful" signs from the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives.

"We have campaigned intensively for this," Baerbock said of Germany's position.

The House could vote on the massive new military aid package worth $61 billion as soon as Saturday, after Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson chose to defy the hard-right faction of his party opposed to more Ukraine spending.

If the bill passes, the White House says a new long-range ATACMS missile system could be sent to Ukraine.

At the NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels earlier this month, there had been intensive discussions about "how we can now show our strength by supporting Ukraine with everything we have," Baerbock said. "The US naturally plays an important role in this."

That is why the German government had "campaigned so strongly to the Americans - and above all to those in America who had not yet supported it - to ensure that they continue to provide such important and intensive support, with equipment and with financial resources."