About 250,000 shells, sold for 4,000 euros each, would be sent to Ukraine to defend against new Russian offensives
The countries of the European Union (EU) are called upon to allocate one billion euros in March to honor their commitment to provide “as a matter of urgency” the ammunition requested by the Ukrainian armed forces, we learned on Wednesday from diplomatic sources. in Brussels. European leaders have promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to speed up the supply of arms and ammunition to enable Ukrainian forces to repel the new offensive by Russian troops.
The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell recommends in a document to devote one billion euros from the endowment of the European Facility for Peace (EFF), the fund used for the purchase and supply of armaments to Ukraine, for the purchase of 155 mm shells used by the Ukrainian artillery. This funding would make it possible to quickly deliver 250,000 155 mm shells sold for 4,000 euros each, according to the indications of experts in Brussels. The proposal will be discussed by EU defense ministers at their informal meeting on March 7 in Stockholm. Estonia has requested to allocate 4 billion euros to the FEP to purchase and deliver one million shells to Ukraine.
Josep Borrell calls on EU members to dip into their strategic stocks. ” It’s urgent. We must quickly mobilize the means at our disposal and we must act with what we have”, pleaded the Spanish official on February 21, during a joint press conference with the head of Ukrainian diplomacy Dmytro Kuleba and the Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg. The FEP has already released 3.5 billion euros and the States have agreed to grant it an additional 2 billion. The money is used to reimburse states for supplying Ukraine with weapons and ammunition taken from their stockpiles.
A favorable reimbursement rate of up to 90%
Josep Borrell suggests in his proposal to grant “a favorable reimbursement rate, up to 90%, if the ammunition is delivered before a certain date”. He insists on the “extreme urgency” of deliveries despite “the exhaustion of stocks in Member States”
The VET budget is supplemented by contributions from the States on the basis of their GDP; the three main contributors are Germany, France and Italy. Three countries — Austria, Ireland and Malta — do not contribute to funding the supply of lethal weapons and their contributions are covered by the other 24 EU members.
Josep Borrell also insists on the need to carry out joint purchases to continue to supply Ukraine and to replenish Member States’ stocks. In the longer term, the EU must improve its production capacity and strengthen its defense industry, he stresses. The President of the European Council Charles Michel supports this approach and announced “operational proposals” on joint purchases for the European summit on March 23.
Source: Sudouest
