March 20, 2023 at 19:13 GMT
Updated 51 minutes ago
Image Credit: MARIA SENOVILLA/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
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Members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ 80th Air Assault Brigade at their position near the frontline town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine last week
More than a dozen European Union member states have pledged to supply Ukraine with at least one million artillery shells over the next year.
The plan, with a total volume of two billion euros, was agreed in Brussels on Monday.
Ukraine had told the EU it needed 350,000 shells a month to stop advancing Russian troops and launch a counteroffensive this year.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba welcomed the EU’s “groundbreaking decision”.
The deal comes as Russia is concerned about a Ukrainian counter-offensive near Bakhmut or in southern Ukraine, according to a report by the think tank Institute for the Study of War.
Meanwhile, Russia’s own New Year’s offensive “may be nearing its peak,” the ISW added.
The first part of the plan envisages joint funding of €1 billion (US$1.06 billion; £863m) for EU countries to draw on their existing stocks, with hopes of having them by the end of May send to Ukraine.
In the second part of the deal, another billion euros would be used to jointly order 155mm shells for Ukraine – the most coveted artillery shells.
The EU hopes this joint order will give European defense contractors an incentive to ramp up production, with the hope that contracts can be signed by early September.
The deal means each country must share details of its ammunition stockpiles – something that is usually kept secret.
Current ammunition production in Europe is said to fall short of the level Ukraine claims it needs to fight Russia.
There is also the question of how much EU countries can share from their own stocks without making themselves vulnerable.
“Increasing industrial capacity is essential,” said EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton on Monday during a visit to the French defense company Nexter.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell recently warned that the bloc must provide Ukraine with the artillery shells it needs, otherwise Ukraine will lose the war with Russia.
He said that Russian forces fired about 50,000 artillery shells every day and that Ukraine’s supplies needed to be raised to the same level.
Hungary, which does not send ammunition to Ukraine and has often threatened to veto Russia, abstained on Monday’s vote in Brussels, but Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said it would “not prevent others from doing what they want.” “.
Norway also announced Monday that it has delivered eight German-made Leopard II tanks to Ukraine for use in a possible Ukrainian counter-offensive against Russia this spring.
Separately, the US is approving an additional $350 million in military aid to Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. It contains ammunition for Himars rocket launchers, 155mm grenades and howitzer guns.
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Top donors of military aid to Ukraine by country.