The EU has provided Ukraine with over 200,000 artillery shells and 1,000 missiles as part of a strategy to deliver desperately needed weapons to Kyiv, the EU’s foreign policy leader announced on Tuesday.
The European Union has committed to spend two billion euros (about $2.2 billion) from its common finances to try to provide a million rounds of artillery ammunition to Ukraine in a year.
According to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, the initiative has given Kyiv with “220,000 artillery munitions of various calibres and 1,300 missiles.”
As Kyiv’s soldiers prepare for a projected counter-offensive to push back Moscow’s troops, Ukraine’s international supporters are hurrying to send weaponry.
The EU plan includes a first billion euros to encourage member states to provide ammunition from their current stockpiles as soon as possible.
The funds are meant to cover a portion of the cost of ammunition given from February 9 through May 31, 2023.
The second billion euros in EU funds will be used to finance joint procurement contracts for 155-millimetre shells signed by the bloc’s member states by the end of September.
EU officials have dismissed major concerns about the European defense industry’s ability to produce that many shells.
Brussels has suggested a financial package to assist businesses in increasing their manufacturing capacity.
