Berlin appoints the general in charge of aid to Ukraine as head of the Bundeswehr

Berlin. The German general who co-ordinated aid to Kyiv and who has perhaps gained the most experience of the war in Ukraine. This is the profile of Christian Freuding, chosen by Berlin as the next Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, that is, the military chief of the German Armed Forces. An appointment that had been on the cards for some time, strongly backed by Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, and seen by many as accelerating Germany’s military shift, in the name of strengthening deterrence against Russia. “The enemy won’t wait for us to declare ourselves ready,” said Freuding, 55, currently Chief of the Army, a few days ago. From February 2027, he will take charge of the entire Armed Forces – the Army, Air Force, Navy and cyber forces – replacing General Carsten Breuer (who has since been elected to NATO to succeed Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone as Chairman of the Military Committee).

A Bavarian, a Catholic, and a PhD in political science, having cut his teeth in armoured reconnaissance with missions in Bosnia and Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Christian Freuding has a lean build and a light yet highly analytical manner of speaking. The future head of the Bundeswehr has already stated on several occasions what he considers to be the areas where the German defence forces need to improve as a matter of urgency: long-range indirect fire, defence against drones, electronic warfare across all branches, unmanned ground and air systems, and AI-supported digital command.

Since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022, Freuding has long led the Sonderstab Ukraine, a new German special staff unit set up to support Ukraine. In recent years, Freuding has clearly studied the Russian-Ukrainian war in depth. And he has also explained it. Following the announcement of his appointment on Thursday, several pro-Ukraine and Nafo accounts celebrated him for his social media presence: between 2022 and 2025, Freuding appeared several times in a series on the Bundeswehr’s YouTube channel, where he commented on maps of the conflict (his analysis of the Ukrainian offensive in the Russian region of Kursk in August 2024 went viral).

As Chief of the Army, Freuding is behind the creation of the Bundeswehr’s first drone regiment, which will be formed in 2027 within the 10th Panzer Division and is expected to comprise up to 600 soldiers: it will be used for defence against enemy drones, reconnaissance and precision strikes from a distance.

In interviews and speeches, Freuding has repeatedly explained that he believes the war in Ukraine is a conflict from which lessons can be learnt, but not a model to be copied. Every German soldier must, for example, know how to use drones and defend themselves against them, even though the wars of the future will not consist solely of drones but will be far more complex, the Bavarian military officer points out. It was Freuding who brought Ukrainian soldiers with frontline experience to German army training schools as instructors. Freuding recently emphasised how Operation Vivaldi by the Ukrainian 3rd Army Corps confirms that ‘manoeuvring warfare is once again possible’, by combining manned and unmanned systems.

As for the geopolitical stance, the next head of the Bundeswehr has already argued that Europeans, if necessary and ‘if there is the political will’, can make up for at least a large part of US support for Ukraine. Freuding once even explained to The Atlantic, without mincing his words, how, with Trump’s return, channels of communication with the Pentagon had fallen silent (the ministry subsequently toned down his statement). Regarding the pivotal year 2029, when Russia might be capable of attacking a NATO country, Freuding pointed out: “2029 is not a German timeline. It is an intelligence assessment shared within NATO.” Some observers claim that Chancellor Friedrich Merz might have preferred another candidate, yet ultimately he has signalled his assent to the appointment. Pistorius’s decisive choice sets unusually high expectations for the next Inspector General, who will, however, have to prove himself up to the task and will certainly not have an easy job. Among Freuding’s supporters, some also highlight what they see as an uncharacteristically German trait of his: not prioritising bureaucratic perfection, but allowing for a margin of error to be corrected as things progress. “Speed is now crucial,” Freuding explained a few months ago.