 Germany to provide 45 more Gepard anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine. Germany will supply Ukraine with 45 more Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns by the end of the year, with 15 of them expected to arrive in the coming weeks. German Brigadier General Christian Froding said, Speaking to the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Froding, who heads German Defence Ministry's Ukraine Situation Centre, said that Ukraine still needs more air defence, even if its allies are doing everything to provide what they can. Froding also said in the interview that Germany is to send two more Iris T SLM air defence systems as well by the end of the year and another four in 2024. The Gepards are to be provided in cooperation with the US according to Froding. The expected Gepards delivery is coordinated by the Florida-based company Global Military Products. The Pentagon announced earlier in June that Global Military Products received a 118.3 million contract to purchase and deliver the German-made weapons. Berlin has already delivered 34 Gepards, including about 6,000 rounds of ammunition since the start of Russia's full-scale war. The most recent delivery took place in early March. The Gepards have helped Ukraine defend itself against Iranian-made Shahed 136 drones, targeting Ukrainian cities and their critical infrastructure, the German Embassy in Ukraine said last November. The German officials' announcement of expected arms deliveries, particularly in the air defence sector, comes as Russian forces continue to bombard cities such as Kiev, located far from the front line. In the words of Froding, it is the perfidy of the Russian strategy to attack Ukraine's population centres so it concentrates its air and anti-craft defences around the cities rather than the battlefield, where Ukraine is launching a much-awaited counteroffensive.