The European Union will not be able to supply Ukraine with 1 million artillery shells until March. What EU representatives and our government say about this, what it threatens and whether we were ready for such a development of events – read the ICTV Facts material.
Statements from the EU and Ukraine regarding ammunition
In March 2023, the EU committed to supply Ukraine with artillery shells within 12 months, first using existing stocks, followed by joint procurement contracts and increased production capacity.
However, recently the German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius said that the EU will not provide Ukraine with the planned 1 million ammunition until March.
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In turn, EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell noted that EU ammunition producers could redirect their exports to help Ukraine during the war.
He noted that the European defense industry exports a lot and about 40% of production goes to third countries.
– So there is no shortage of production capacity. The problem is that they are sending their products to another market. Therefore, perhaps we need to try to transfer this production to priority number one, which is the Ukrainians,” Borrell emphasized.
For his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba said that Ukrainian diplomacy talks a lot and rings bells loudly to resolve the issue of shortage of ammunition. In addition, he noted the work of the European Union on the problem of eliminating bureaucratic nuances that could interfere with such supplies.
He believes that a new quality of work in defense industries is needed to protect the whole of Europe.
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How does this threaten Ukraine?
Military expert Oleg Zhdanov exclusively told ICTV Facts that delaying the supply of ammunition threatens that our artillery will once again have limits on their use. And this, in turn , may affect the planning of actions to liberate our territories.
“This will have a very negative impact on our capabilities, it reduces our firepower and increases the enemy’s chances of achieving the goals that he sets for himself.” This is very bad for us and our army. I would even say that this could be critical for the situation on the front line. Then we won’t talk about the offensive at all, the main thing will be to hold the defense,” he warned.
Was Ukraine ready for such a scenario?
Zhdanov notes that it is impossible to be prepared for this, because these are sudden situations that arise in the course of solving a problem.
— Who thought that even the allocation of 2 billion euros, which the EU allocated for the purchase of this million ammunition or its production, would not yield results and the EU countries for some reason would not be able to increase production to the required level or purchase ammunition in order to supply their Ukraine,” he says.
Can Ukraine be supplied with 1 million ammunition?
According to the military expert, there is a chance that Ukraine will receive the promised million by March 2024. But for this it is necessary for the European Commission to take certain steps to motivate EU countries to manufacture or purchase these ammunition.
– If the European Commission does something, then yes – there is a chance, if not, then it will not be possible to supply this million ammunition. You see, manufacturers were not interested enough in this to expand production and raise the level,” adds Zhdanov.
He believes that in the event of a negative result in this matter, Ukraine and the EU will need to look for ways to compensate or ways to complete this task.
