{"id":9023,"date":"2026-08-01T16:13:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T14:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deaidua.org\/news\/?p=9023"},"modified":"2026-08-01T16:13:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T14:13:26","slug":"german-ukrainian-firearms-deliveries-continue-to-take-place-in-secret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deaidua.org\/news\/2026\/08\/01\/german-ukrainian-firearms-deliveries-continue-to-take-place-in-secret\/","title":{"rendered":"German-Ukrainian firearms deliveries continue to take place in secret"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When it comes to Germany’s military aid to Ukraine, the focus is often on the large-scale deliveries of partly state-of-the-art air defence systems, artillery and armoured vehicles whilst the equipment provided to the \u201cordinary soldier\u201d is often completely overlooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the previous government under Olaf Scholz had already been placing particular emphasis, from the end of 2023 onwards, initially on equipping Ukrainian special forces and later, increasingly, on equipping regular troops as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This primarily involved the supply of a wide variety of firearms, such as MG4 and MG5 machine guns, MK 556 assault rifles and, later, HK416 assault rifles, as well as the HLR 338 precision rifle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By April 2025, the German government had financed and delivered around 20,000 firearms, sourced from both Bundeswehr stocks and via Heckler & Koch and C.G. Haenel as industrial partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That month also marked the last time the federal government’s Press and Information Office updated Germany’s official list of military support for Ukraine, meaning that fair and transparent reporting is now only possible to a very limited extent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"G3
In addition to for example modern assault rifles provided via the industry, Germany also delivered older G3 battle rifles from Bundeswehr stocks | Image: 19th Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Officially, all but a mid-double-digit number of the firearms previously pledged have been delivered to Ukraine. Although a general commitment to supply further firearms was made in May 2025, no details have been officially announced to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research carried out over the past 15 months, which largely involved the analysis of image and video material, now shows that the German government must have continued to secretly supply a considerable number of firearms to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In total, the figure is likely to be at least a low five-figure number, consisting mainly of assault rifles. Estimated value: a low two-digit million figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flopped in the Bundeswehr, highly valued in Ukraine \u2013 the MK 556<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since April 2025, GAU has been able to identify eleven Ukrainian users of the MK 556, manufactured by C.G. Haenel, who either only recently put the assault rifle into service or publicly disclosed its use for the first time after the German government classified its military aid once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These assault rifles were not distributed within a single branch of the armed forces, but were widely dispersed. These include, amongst others, the 81st Airmobile Brigade (Air Assault Forces), the 425th Assault Regiment (Ground Forces), the 4th Assault Center (Special Operations Forces) and the Belarusian Kastus Kalino\u016dski Regiment (HUR MO), which deployed the MK 556 for the first time or presented it to the public in April 2025, June 2025, February 2026 and June 2026 respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

User<\/th>Branch<\/th>Deployment\/Publication<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
81st Airmobile Brigade<\/td>Air Assault Forces<\/td>April 2025<\/td><\/tr>
33rd Mechanized Brigade<\/td>Ground Forces<\/td>May 2025<\/td><\/tr>
425th Assault Regiment<\/td>Ground Forces<\/td>June 2025<\/td><\/tr>
33rd Assault Regiment<\/td>Ground Forces<\/td>July 2025<\/td><\/tr>
11th Army Aviation Brigade<\/td>Ground Forces<\/td>August 2025<\/td><\/tr>
3rd Assault Brigade<\/td>Ground Forces<\/td>October 2025<\/td><\/tr>
Presidential Brigade<\/td>Ground Forces<\/td>November 2025<\/td><\/tr>
148th Artillery Brigade<\/td>Air Assault Forces<\/td>December 2025<\/td><\/tr>
4th Assault Center<\/td>Special Operations Forces<\/td>February 2026<\/td><\/tr>
Kastus Kalino\u016dski Regiment<\/td>HUR MO<\/td>June 2026<\/td><\/tr>
44th Mechanized Brigade<\/td>Ground Forces<\/td>July 2026<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
Based on publicly available data. This is most likely not a complete list.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Particularly noteworthy here are, amongst other, the deliveries to the 33rd Assault Regiment, which made the deployment of C.G. Haenel\u2019s assault rifle public for the first time in July 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, the regiment\u2019s own rifle battalion first reported on the MK 556 in November 2025 \u2013 a full four months after the first delivery to the regiment \u2013 noting that the soldiers were keen to familiarise themselves with the MK 556. This suggests that at least the 33rd Assault Regiment received several deliveries within the space of roughly half a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"MK<\/a>
An MK 556 assault rifle in service with the Kastus Kalino\u016dski Regiment | Image: Kastus Kalino\u016dski Regiment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"MK<\/a>
An MK 556 assault rifle used during a shooting exercise | Image: 148th Artillery Brigade<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"MK<\/a>
A Ukrainian soldier belonging to the 81st Airmobile Brigade together with an MK 556 assault rifle | Image: 81st Airmobile Brigade<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, the deliveries made to the 11th Army Aviation Brigade are of great interest. These first came to light in a WSJ report<\/a> on the use of training aircraft for drone hunting, published in August 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April 2026 and July 2026, the brigade released further video footage proving that this remains common practice and that Ukrainian soldiers are still using the MK 556.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wall Street Journal\u2019s report quotes a soldier who has tried out several firearms for drone hunting over the course of his career. According to him, he preferred the MK 556 at the time and after almost a year, it appears that nothing has changed in this regard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deliveries to the 2nd Assault Detachment from the 4th Assault Center, which were first made public in February 2026, also stand out. The reason for this is the assault rifle\u2019s unusual configuration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only was a version of the assault rifle with a shorter barrel supplied to the Special Operations Forces, but it was also the first time that a custom manufactured T1Xi optics from STEINER was included, featuring a greater distance from the rail and a special finish which matches the rest of the rifle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MK
A Ukrainian soldier together with a unique MK 556 assault rifle | Image: 4th Assault Center<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Finally, the Kastus Kalino\u016dski Regiment, which first made the use of the MK 556 public in June 2026, is also worth mentioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst analysing image and video material from the 5th Center of International Legion (HUR MO), to which the Kastus Kalino\u016dski Regiment also belongs, a single image of the so-called \u201cExpeditionaries Team\u201d published in October 2025 stood out, in which an MK 556 can be seen leaning against a wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This suggests that at least the Expeditionaries Team, as part of the 5th Center of International Legion, had already received supplies by October 2025, whilst the Kastus Kalino\u016dski Regiment received additional supplies in June 2026. However, as there is only a single image, GAU did not list the 5th Center of International Legion as a separate, higher-level entry in the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assuming that, from April 2025 onwards, new users have received roughly the same amount of assault rifles as new users had received on average up to that point, and given the high number of new users since April 2025, it is to be expected that the German government, led by Friedrich Merz, has significantly increased deliveries of the MK 556 assault rifles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, under the previous government, around 1,600 MK 556s were supplied exclusively to Ukrainian special forces and the Ukrainian military intelligence service (HUR MO).<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Ukrainian<\/a>
Ukrainian Special Operations Forces of unknown origin together with MK 556 assault rifles<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This was followed by the delivery of a further 4,200 assault rifles, which were distributed among the 82nd Air Assault Brigade, the 95th Air Assault Brigade, the 242nd Training Center, the 58th Motorised Brigade and the 155th Mechanized Brigade. Assuming that no further assault rifles were delivered to previously known users within Ukrainian special forces, this would amount to an average of 840 rifles per user.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With at least eleven additional users since April 2025, this would therefore amount to around 9,240 additional MK 556 assault rifles delivered, although this is, of course, only a very rough estimate purely based on data from previous deliveries and the results of this research. The manufacturer, C.G. Haenel, could not be reached for comment prior to the publication of this article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good enough for the Bundeswehr, good enough for the Armed Forces of Ukraine \u2013 the HK416<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The situation is similar with the HK416 made by Heckler & Koch. The first HK416s \u2013 in the A2 and A5 variants \u2013 were spotted in Ukraine<\/a> as early as January 2023. However, it is highly likely that these were supplied to Ukraine, at least in large part if not entirely, by the Netherlands, and definitely not by Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An initial delivery financed by the German government, consisting of a total of 495 newly manufactured HK416 assault rifles, took place between late December 2024 and mid-January 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further deliveries took place in the months that followed, meaning that, according to official figures, a total of 4,750 of these assault rifles, financed by Germany, had been delivered to recipients in Ukraine by April 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visually, the assault rifles supplied by the German government differ significantly from those supplied previously, as they are, for the most part, virtually indistinguishable from the G95 assault rifles in the A8 variant, which have only recently been introduced into the Bundeswehr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should be noted that the German government is also supplying Ukraine with the HK416 in two different versions: one with the standard HK handguard and one with an M-LOK handguard.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\n
\"HK416<\/a>
Standard handguard | Image: 91st Anti-Tank Battalion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"HK416<\/a>
M-LOK handguard | Image: Kastus Kalino\u016dski Regiment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

As deliveries of the HK416 did not begin until the turn of the year 2025, I was aware of very few users of the \u201cGerman variant\u201d in Ukraine up until April 2025. Since then, however, as with the MK 556, numerous new units have been supplied, or previous deliveries have been publicly confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with the MK 556, these include the 425th Assault Regiment (June 2025), but also, for example, the 1st Special Operations Task Group of the 8th Special Operations Regiment (July 2025), the Artan Special Unit (November 2025) and the SCORPION Rapid Response and Special Operations Unit of the Military Police (May 2026).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

User<\/th>Branch<\/th>Deployment\/Publication<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
425th Assault Regiment<\/td>Ground Forces<\/td>June 2025<\/td><\/tr>
8th Special Operations Regiment<\/td>Special Operations Forces<\/td>July 2025<\/td><\/tr>
Tymur Special Unit<\/td>HUR MO<\/td>August 2025<\/td><\/tr>
73rd Naval Special Operations Center<\/td>Special Operations Forces<\/td>August 2025<\/td><\/tr>
91st Anti-Tank Battalion<\/td>Ground Forces<\/td>September 2025<\/td><\/tr>
1st Squadron of International Legion<\/td>HUR MO<\/td>November 2025<\/td><\/tr>
Artan Special Unit<\/td>HUR MO<\/td>November 2025<\/td><\/tr>
Azov Brigade<\/td>National Guard<\/td>November 2025<\/td><\/tr>
Kastus Kalino\u016dski Regiment<\/td>HUR MO<\/td>November 2025<\/td><\/tr>
18th Special Purpose Center<\/td>Military Police<\/td>April 2026<\/td><\/tr>
3rd Special Operations Regiment<\/td>Special Operations Forces<\/td>April 2026<\/td><\/tr>
SCORPION Rapid Response and Special Operations Unit<\/td>Military Police<\/td>May 2026<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
Based on publicly available data. This is most likely not a complete list.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In my opinion, the deliveries to the military police \u2013 which appear to have taken place relatively recently \u2013 are particularly worth mentioning. I was able to identify both image and video footage of the HK416 supplied by Germany at the 18th Special Purpose Center and at the SCORPION Rapid Response and Special Operations Unit, which was newly established and made its first public appearance as early as April 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deliveries to the Azov Brigade (National Guard) also stand out. It appears that these deliveries are limited exclusively to the various teams within their reconnaissance detachment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An initial beyond-doubt identification was made in a video by the Recon Group, which was published in November 2025. Further identifications followed only in image and video material from the Pirates Group and the 4th Combat Group, which was published in June 2026 and July 2026. This is a clear indication that multiple deliveries were made to the Azov Brigade over a period of several months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n