EU agrees 2-billion-euro ammunition plan for Ukraine

BRUSSELS: European Union ministers agreed on Monday on a two-billion-euro plan to raid their own arsenals and jointly purchase desperately needed ammunition for Ukraine.

Meeting in Brussels, defence and foreign ministers backed an initiative aimed at providing Ukraine with one million artillery shells in the next 12 months as well as replenishing EU stocks.

Kyiv has complained that its forces are having to ration firepower as Russia´s year-long invasion has turned into a grinding war of attrition. Ukraine had told the EU it wants 350,000 shells a month to help its troops hold back Moscow´s onslaught and allow them to launch fresh counter-offensives later in the year.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said the “starting signal” had been given and promised Ukraine could count on getting a large amount of ammunition this year. Ukraine´s top diplomat Dmytro Kuleba hailed the “game-changing decision” from the EU.

“Exactly what is needed: urgent delivery + sustainable joint procurement,” Kuleba wrote on social media. The first part of the EU plan commits a further one billion euros ($1.06 billion) of shared funding to try to get EU states to tap their already stretched stocks for ammunition that can be sent quickly.

The second part will see the bloc use another one billion euros to order 155-millimetre shells for Ukraine as part of a massive joint procurement push intended to spur EU defence firms to ramp up production.

Buying weaponry together on this scale is a major new step for the EU, which has seen long-standing efforts to work more in unison on defence propelled forward by Russia´s war. Countries wrangled over details, like whether it should be the EU´s defence agency or the member states who negotiate the orders and if they should buy only from producers in Europe. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the plan was to purchase from European manufacturers and sign contracts for the ammunition for Ukraine by the end of May.