The European Union will release 2 billion euros to provide a million shells that Ukraine desperately needs to counter the offensive of Russian troops and for joint purchases to replenish its stocks.
“We have the starting signal for concrete measures,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced Monday in Brussels. “We are starting a new path of common purchases,” he said during a meeting with his EU counterparts and the foreign ministers of the 27 member states.
The head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kouleba, who participated by videoconference, welcomed this agreement. “More artillery ammunition to Ukraine ASAP. That was the main goal,” he tweeted. This EU effort “will strengthen Ukraine’s capabilities on the battlefield,” he commented.
The agreement, which will still be presented to the leaders of the 27 at a summit of heads of state and government on Thursday and Friday, responds to an urgent appeal launched on March 9 by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, because his troops are limiting its firepower. lack of ammunition.
Reimburse Member States
“We have entered the dangerous phase of the war. The Russians have more than 300,000 fighters concentrated for an offensive and we must help the Ukrainian forces to resist,” a senior European official explained.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who received Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday, held a meeting last week in Rostov-on-Don (southern Russia), not far from the border with Ukraine, with the chief of the General Staff of the Russian Army, Valery Gerasimov.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, has asked the Member States to spend the 2,000 million euros earmarked in December for the European Peace Fund, an intergovernmental fund used since the start of the war, for the purchase of ammunition for Ukraine. for the supply of weapons to Ukraine.
One billion euros will be used to reimburse member states for ammunition taken from their stocks, at a price of 1,000 to 1,300 euros per shell, it said. Currently, a new case is worth around 4000 euros and the prices are going up. Ukrainian forces will also receive missiles for their anti-aircraft defense. Supplies are expected by May 31.
155mm ammunition
Another billion will be used for joint purchases of 155mm ammunition destined for Ukraine. Contracts are scheduled for September, with the goal of reducing lead and delivery times to 6-8 months.
The third part of Josep Borrell’s plan aims to increase the production capacities of European arms companies to “replenish the stocks of EU countries and continue supplying the Ukrainian forces.”
“The idea is to buy European weapons,” not to replenish their stocks by buying from Israel or the United States, explained the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, on Monday while visiting the Nexter armaments factories (weapons and projectiles) in France. and MBDA (missiles).
“We have identified 15 companies in 11 countries. I will go see them all,” he announced. “Increasing industrial capacity is critical. We must switch to war economy mode.”
European military aid to Ukraine is estimated at €12 billion, including €3.6 billion through the European Peace Fund, 63% of which is financed by contributions from Germany, France, Italy and Spain. An agreement in principle has been reached to allocate new financing of 3,500 million euros to complement the Mechanism. “We are leaving,” said a European diplomat.
Source: BFM TV
