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The EU is committed to ammunition production and Russia wants to double that of missiles

The European Union (EU) is coming up with a plan to increase ammunition production, with the aim of reaching the target of one million per year within 12 months. The idea is not only to help the war effort in Ukraine, but also to replace European reserves that are running out. Russia, for its part, is putting pressure on its producers and wants to double its missile production.

The plan presented by the European Commission this Wednesday proposes using €500 million from the EU budget to increase munitions production in the bloc. after decades of disinvestment in this area and given the difficulty of meeting Ukrainian needs. However, this amount corresponds to only half of the investment, requiring Member States to raise an additional EUR 500 million for the projects.

“On defense, our industry needs to move to war economy,” said EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton. “I am confident that within 12 months we can increase our production capacity in Europe to one million cartridges per year”he added, quoted by AFP.

The idea would be to fund new howitzer and missile production lines, intensify gunpowder production, and retool old munitions. The European Commission, which has already promised to allocate two billion euros to send ammunition to Ukraine next year, hopes that this investment will convince the European defense industry to invest in new factories and give Member States the confidence to send more ammunition they have in stock to Kiev.

However, the lack of ammunition is not only a problem on the Ukrainian side ahead of the expected counter-offensive. Russia will also be in trouble. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu demanded on Tuesday that a state-owned company double its missile production. despite admitting that JSC Tactical Missiles Corporation fulfilled its contracts on time. “[Mas]right now, it is necessary to double the production of precision weapons in the shortest possible time,” Shoigu said during a meeting with senior military officials.

In its daily analysis of the situation on the ground, the British Ministry of Defense reported on Tuesday about the rumored resignation of Russia’s deputy defense minister Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev – who has the logistics portfolio and is in charge just eight months ago. Although this departure has not yet been proven, he draws attention to the fact that “logistics problems remain at the heart of the difficulties of the Russian campaign in Ukraine”.

The British repeat that “Russia does not have enough ammunition to achieve success on the offensive”, pointing out that the shortage is causing “internal division”namely between the Russian army and the paramilitaries of the Wagner group. “Russia continues to give top priority to the mobilization of its defense industry, but still cannot respond to wartime demand”add the British.

However, Russia has rejected US estimates of the number of soldiers killed. Washington had said on Monday that 20,000 Russians had been killed (in addition to 80,000 wounded) in the past five months. The Kremlin claims the number “came out of the blue” and that Americans don’t know what’s right. For his part, Shoigu said the Ukrainians lost 15,000 troops in the past month alone “despite unprecedented military aid” from Western allies.

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Author: Susan Salvador

Source: DN

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