EU ministers have reached a deal to supply Ukraine with a million rounds of shells to bolster its defences against Russia’s invasion.
“We have reached a political consensus to send Ukraine 1m rounds of 155mm calibre ammunition,” Estonia’s defence minister, Hanno Pevkur, said. “Definitely, there are many, many details still to solve, but for me it is most important that we conclude these negotiations and it shows me one thing: if there is a will there is a way.”
Earlier on Monday, the EU’s most senior diplomat, Josep Borrell, warned that there would be “difficulties” if EU foreign and defence ministers failed to reach a deal to replenish Ukraine’s dwindling stocks. “I hope that the ministers will, all of them, engage in a final discussion and agree on a very important decision,” he told reporters. “Otherwise we will be in difficulties in order to continue to supplying arms to Ukraine.”
EU foreign and defence ministers are still fine-tuning a €1bn plan for the joint procurement of ammunition by the Brussels-based European Defence Agency. First proposed by Estonia and inspired by the bloc’s joint purchase of Covid vaccines, such an agreement would be a significant moment for the EU, which has limited experience of the joint purchase of military supplies. So far, about 15 countries are expected to take part in the voluntary initiative.
Ministers are also discussing a separate €1bn proposal to reimburse member states that supply Ukraine with ammunition, via the EU’s European Peace Facility (EPF). Since Russia invaded Ukraine last February, the EU has pledged €3.6bn to fund arms and non-lethal aid for Ukraine via the EPF, a fund created in 2021 to strengthen security. Under the latest plan, €1bn from the EPF would be earmarked to fund ammunition for Ukraine.
An EU source said the agreement covered both the €1bn joint procurement plan and €1bn EPF funding for ammunition, although final details are still being ironed out. “All the options are available,” Pevkur said, urging agreement on the “small details” as soon as possible. “The point is very simple. We need to deliver 1m rounds to Ukraine as soon as possible.”
He added that Estonia preferred to source ammunition from European industry, but all options – including non-EU suppliers, had to be open to help Ukraine.
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An EU official said the the ammunition question would be central to talks at an EU summit later this week, when 27 leaders are expected to hear from Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, via video link. According to EU estimates, Russian forces have fired between 20,000 and 50,000 artillery rounds a day in recent months, while Ukraine’s army is limited to about 4,000 to 7,000 artillery rounds a day.
“The [Ukrainian armed forces] are utilising artillery rounds faster than Ukraine’s partners can produce and supply them. The proposed assistance measure will therefore make an important contribution to allow the UAF to counterbalance the combat power of Russian forces,” notes an internal document on the plans.
Borrell said the EU would fund ammunition for western and Soviet-era arms, with 155mm and 152mm-calibre artillery rounds on the purchase list. Member states would be free to act alone if they did not want to join the EU’s common purchasing scheme, he said. The EU’s ammunition supply to Ukraine needed to be “quick, cheap and in the necessary amounts”, he said, while downplaying concerns that shells would not arrive on time.
Lithuania’s foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, said the global arms industry was awaiting a signal to increase production. “I am hoping that this agreement shows them they should increase,” he said, adding that it was not only Ukraine that needed more ammunition. He said his country was also spending more on defence than a year ago and “probably that is not the end of it”.
EU figures also welcomed the decision of the international criminal court to issue an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for overseeing the abduction of Ukrainian children. “It’s very important and it’s a gamechanger,” Borrell said. “Let’s see the practical consequences of that. If President Putin travels to one of more than 130 countries who have signed this international [ICC] treaty he should be immediately arrested.”
Landsbergis, one of Ukraine’s most outspoken allies in the EU, said it was “not just a legal step forward” but “a moral step forward”, urging the creation of a special tribunal to try those responsible for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. “We cannot stop here.”