2023-11-14 15:55:51
European Defense Ministers noted the EU’s difficulty in fulfilling, for the moment, its promise to deliver one million shells to Ukraine next March.
Eight months following promising Ukraine the delivery of a million shells and missiles to help it in its counter-offensive, the European Union (EU) is coming back to reality. Barely 300,000 shells were delivered to kyiv, even though the Twenty-Seven had committed to honoring their promise by March 2024. European Defense Ministers, meeting Tuesday in Brussels, were only able to note this failure.
“The million will not be reached, we must assume it.”
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius raised the problem at the start of the European Council. “The million will not be reached, we must assume it,” he declared. “The right question to ask would be whether a million euros is a realistic target.”
According to several diplomatic sources, this is not so much a lack of will on the part of Europe, but rather the inability of its arms industry to produce such a volume.
“We must meet the immediate needs of the Ukrainian army to defend itself once morest the Russian aggressor,” said EU High Representative Josep Borrell. “We do a lot, but everyone agrees that we need to do more and faster“.
Redirect exports
“The numbers will continue to increase.”
The ammunition already delivered was drawn from stocks. To speed up the pace, Josep Borrell suggested that munitions exports to third countries, which represent 40% of European production, be redirected towards Ukraine.
The Twenty-Seven must also order ammunition from industry by joint purchases. This is the second phase of the aid plan for Ukraine. But to this day, only seven countries have ordered ammunition under this program. “The numbers will continue to grow,” Borrell promised.
Production capacity on the rise
The head of European diplomacy announced that the distinct objective of increase European production of 155 millimeter shells to one million per year would be reached next year. According to the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, European production capacity has increased “nearly 20 to 30%” This year.
But under current circumstances, “Ukraine needs 3 million shells per year” Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said.
Ministers failed to agree on the proposal, tabled by Borrell last July, to create a fund of 20 billion euros over four years to facilitate the delivery of weapons to Ukraine.
The EU High Representative is expected to announce a review of EU aid targets for Ukraine before the European summit on December 14 and 15.
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